House Bill 188 - Mississippi Student Safety Act

• Prohibits school personnel from using seclusion, mechanical restraints, chemical restraints, and physical restraints that restrict breathing on any student, with exceptions only for imminent danger of serious bodily injury when less restrictive interventions have failed.

• Establishes that physical restraint may only be used as a last resort when a student's behavior poses imminent danger, must be performed by trained personnel with continuous face-to-face or direct visual monitoring, and must end when the threat ceases or medical conditions arise.

• Bans use of prohibited restraint and seclusion methods entirely for students with cognitive disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or developmental delays as documented in their IEP or 504 Plan.

• Requires local school districts and private schools to submit plans to the State Board of Education within two years that include crisis intervention training, incident reporting mechanisms, and monitoring procedures for restraint and time-out use.

• Mandates annual reporting to the State Board of Education on total incidents of restraint and seclusion, disaggregated by whether incidents resulted in injury or death, while protecting student privacy under federal education law.