SB 452 Summary

• Prohibits school personnel from placing students with disabilities in seclusion and bans mechanical restraint, prone/supine restraint, and 13 specified dangerous restraint techniques.

• Allows manual physical restraint only when imminent risk of serious injury or death exists and requires medical evaluation of restrained students as soon as possible after restraint occurs.

• Permits time-out only as part of a positive behavioral intervention plan with constant adult observation, limited to 1 minute per year of student age, and not used as punishment.

• Requires school districts to establish training and annual refresher certification programs in approved restraint techniques covering deescalation, risk assessment, team procedures, and medical emergency response.

• Mandates schools notify parents in writing before end of school day when restraint is used, provide incident reports within 3 school days, and send weekly redacted documentation to Disability Rights Florida; establishes public reporting of restraint data on Department of Education website by January 31, 2017.