Emergency Safety Interventions: Requirements

Updates from the Kansas Emergency Safety Intervention Statutes

August 2015

Emergency Safety Intervention Regulations

In April 2013 the Kansas State Board of Education (State Board) passed regulations on the use of emergency safety interventions

These regulations are still in effect and must be followed by school and district staff

Emergency Safety Intervention Statutes

On January 28, 2015, a bill was introduced in the Kansas House regarding the use of restraint and seclusion in Kansas schools

After many amendments and substitutes, a final bill was passed and signed by the governor. These emergency safety intervention statutes became law on June 4, 2015.

You may hear these emergency safety intervention statutes referenced as The Freedom from Unsafe Restraint and Seclusion Act, the Act, or HB 2170.

Emergency Safety Intervention Statutes

What is different as a result of the new statutes?• Definitions• When an Emergency Safety Intervention may be

used• Notifying Parents of an Emergency Safety

Intervention Incident• Local Dispute Resolution and State Board

Administrative Review of Local Dispute Resolution Process

• Reporting Emergency Safety Intervention data to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE)

• Helpful templates for districts and schools

Definitions Definition of Parent

• Means: • 1) a natural parent• 2) an adoptive parent• 3) a person acting as a parent as defined in K.S.A. 72-1046(d)(2)• 4) a legal guardian• 5) an education advocate for a student with an exceptionality• 6) a foster parent unless the student is a child with an

exceptionality• 7) a student who has reached the age of majority or is an

emancipated minor Definition of School• Means any learning environment, including any

non-profit institutional day or residential school or accredited nonpublic school, that receives public funding or which is subject to the regulatory authority of the state board of education

Definitions Emergency Safety Intervention

• Means the use of seclusion or physical restraint

Physical Restraint• Means bodily force used to substantially limit a

student’s movement, except that consensual, solicited, or unintentional contact and contact to provide comfort, assistance or instruction shall not be deemed to be physical restraint

Definitions Seclusion

• Means the placement of a student in a location where all of the following conditions are met:• The student is placed in an enclosed area by

school personnel• The student is purposefully isolated from

adults and peers• The student is prevented from leaving or the

student reasonably believes that such student will be prevented from leaving the enclosed area

When May Emergency Safety Interventions Be

Used? Emergency Safety Interventions shall only be used

when the student presents a reasonable and immediate danger of physical harm to self or others

The use of Emergency Safety Interventions must stop immediately when the danger of physical harm ends

Violent action that is destructive of property may necessitate the use of Emergency Safety Interventions

Section 3(a)

When May Emergency Safety Interventions Be

Used? Less restrictive alternatives, such as positive

behavior interventions support, must be deemed inappropriate or ineffective under the circumstances prior to an emergency safety intervention being used

Emergency Safety Interventions must not be used for discipline, punishment, or the convenience of a school employee

Section 3(a)

When May Emergency Safety Interventions be

Used? A student cannot be secluded if staff know that a

student has a medical condition that could put the student in mental or physical danger.

When a student is placed in seclusion, a staff member must be able to see and hear the student at all times.

All seclusion rooms that have a locking door must be designed to ensure that the lock automatically disengages when the staff member watching the student walks away or in cases of emergency, such as fire or severe weather.

If a school uses a seclusion room it must be a safeplace, free of any dangerous conditions, well-ventilated, and sufficiently lighted.

Sections 3(b)–(e)

Notifying Parents of Emergency Safety Intervention Incidents

1st Emergency Safety Intervention Incident of the School Year• Parents must be notified on the same day

as the incident• Documentation of an Emergency Safety

Interventions incident must be completed and provided to the parent no later than the school day following the incident

Notifying Parents of Emergency Safety Intervention Incidents

1st Emergency Safety Intervention Incident of the school year• Parents must be provided the following information

in printed form:• A copy of the standards of when emergency safety

interventions can be used• A flyer on parents’ rights under emergency safety

intervention law• Information on the parents’ right to file a complaint

through the local dispute resolution process and the administrative review process of the state board of education (available no later than March 1, 2016)

• Information that will assist the parent in navigating the complaint process, including contact information for Families Together and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas

Notifying Parents of Emergency Safety Intervention Incidents

For any subsequent emergency safety intervention incidents in the school year• Parents must be notified on the same day

as the incident• Documentation of an emergency safety

intervention incident must be completed and provided to the parent no later than the school day following the incident

Notifying Parents of Emergency Safety Intervention Incidents

For any subsequent emergency safety intervention incidents in the school year• The parent shall be provided a website address for the page on

the school or district website where the parent can find the following information:• A copy of the standards of when emergency safety

interventions can be used• A flyer on parents’ rights under emergency safety intervention

law• Information on the parents’ right to file a complaint through the

local dispute resolution process and the administrative review process of the state board of education (available no later than March 1, 2016)

• Information that will assist the parent in navigating the complaint process, including contact information for Families Together and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas

Required Meeting After 3rd Emergency Safety Intervention Incident

3rd Emergency Safety Intervention Incident of the School Year• Parent notification requirements are the same for

every emergency safety intervention incident in a school year

• 3rd incident for a student with an IEP or 504• IEP or 504 team meet within 10 days of

incident• Discuss the incident and consider the need to

conduct a functional behavioral analysis, develop a behavior intervention plan (BIP), or amend either the functional behavioral analysis or BIP

Required Meeting After 3rd Emergency Safety Intervention Incident

3rd Emergency Safety Intervention Incident of the School Year• 3rd incident on a student without an IEP or 504

• Meeting between student’s parent and school employees within 10 days of the incident

• Discuss the incident and consider the appropriateness of a referral for an evaluation under the special education for exceptional children act, the need for a functional behavioral analysis, or the need for a BIP

• Meeting should include: parent, school administrator, student’s teacher, school employee involved in the incident, and other school employees designated appropriate for the meeting

Local Dispute Resolution

Emergency Safety Intervention Incident Occurs, Parent Notified

Parents receive documentation and feel

emergency safety intervention was used

appropriately.

Parents feel emergency safety intervention was used inappropriately

or did not follow the district’s emergency safety intervention policy,

the emergency safety intervention regulations, or the emergency safety

intervention statute.

Parents may choose to first speak with the building administrator to try to resolve the issue informally.

If this is effective, the building administrator should provide written documentation of the issues to the superintendent.

Parents file a written complaint with local board of education within 30 days of the emergency

safety intervention incident

Upon receiving a complaint, the local board will designate an individual to oversee an

investigation, maintaining confidentiality

The local board will mail the written findings of fact and proposed resolution to the parent and KSDE

within 30 days of receiving the complaintUpon receiving the report, parents may determine

the findings are sufficient and consider the dispute

resolved.Upon receiving the report, parents may

determine the findings are insufficient and the dispute was not resolved. If findings are not agreeable, parents may proceed to the

state administrative review process.

State Board’s Administrative Review Process

This is a brief summary of proposed regulations regarding an administrative review of the local board’s decision. The exact procedure will be contained in the emergency safety intervention regulations upon final approval of the State Board.• A complaint is filed with the local dispute resolution process

and the findings inadequately addressed parent concerns. • Next, a written complaint filed with the State Board.• Filing a complaint must be completed within 30 days of the completion of

the local dispute resolution process• The State Board will appoint a Review Officer to conduct the review. • Investigation results will be provided within 60 days

of the parents’ request for administrative review.

Reporting of Emergency Safety Intervention Incidents to KSDE

Reports to KSDE must be submitted at the student level based on the KIDS ID number

Reports to KSDE must now include:• KIDS ID number

• From this KSDE staff will pull• Student race/ethnicity• Student age

• Whether the student had an IEP at the time of the incident• Whether the student had a 504 at the time of the incident• Whether the student had a BIP at the time of the incident• Date of incident• Type of incident (seclusion or physical restraint)• Duration of incident

Reports will be entered in the Kan-Dis web application

Two options to report:• An uploaded Excel spreadsheet• Fill out the form in the

application Reports may be submitted by either

the building administrator or a district administrator

New Templates and Documents Are Available

To assist in the transition to the new requirements under the statutes, KSDE has developed documents and templates for schools and districts to edit and use, if desired. These are available at www.ksdetasn.org.

Templates and documents include:• Emergency Safety Intervention Law (Statutes and Regulations)• Changes in Emergency Safety Intervention Requirements under the Emergency

Safety Intervention Statutes• A Family Guide to the Use of Emergency Safety Interventions (Seclusion and

Restraint) in Kansas• Standards for the Use of Emergency Safety Intervention• Emergency Safety Intervention Sample Documentation Form• Template of Information to Provide to Parents After First Emergency Safety

Incident in a School Year• Sample Parent Notification Letters• Emergency Safety Intervention Flowchart• Emergency Safety Intervention Flyer• Emergency Safety Intervention Bookmark• Excel spreadsheet to assist in documentation of Emergency

Safety Intervention incidents (coming soon)

Emergency Safety Intervention Requirements

What’s the same?• Focus on prevention• Staff training• Continued regulatory requirements,

including:• District policy• Prohibition on certain kinds of

restraint• District procedure for data collection

and review

A Focus on Prevention KSDE does not promote the use of Emergency Safety

Interventions with any student

KSDE recommends a focus on prevention because there are REAL DANGERS when using Emergency Safety Interventions

Emergency Safety Interventions are not part of a tiered intervention – it is ONLY to be used in an EMERGENCY

Emergency Safety Interventions is a reactive strategy and does not decrease the likelihood of the behaviorfrom occurring

A Focus on Prevention Focus on using

proactive strategies to support students including positive behavior interventions and supports

De-escalation is helpful to begin to identify acting out behavior early and use proactive strategies to decrease the use of seclusion and restraint

More resources about de-escalation will be available soon on www.ksdetasn.org

A Focus on Prevention

Emergency Safety Interventions should not be a planned intervention for a specific student under foreseeable circumstances.

Behavior plans should focus on the results of functional behavior assessments and teaching replacement behavior.

If you are planning for it, it means you can see it coming. If you can see it coming, every effort should be made for prevention.

School Personnel Training

District policies must include school personnel training consistent with nationally recognized training programs on the use of Emergency Safety Interventions.• Training must address prevention techniques, de-

escalation techniques, and positive behavioral intervention strategies;

• Training must be designed to meet the needs of personnel as appropriate to their duties and potential need to use an Emergency Safety Intervention; and

• Schools and programs must maintain documentation on training provided and those who attended.

Data Collection and Review of All Instances of an Emergency Safety Intervention

Districts must establish a procedure for the collection, maintenance, and periodic review of the use of emergency safety intervention at each school.

Districts must develop a system to collect and maintain documentation for each use of an emergency safety intervention.

Information maintained by the school on the use of emergency safety intervention must be compiled and submitted, at least biannually, to the district superintendent or district designee.

Development of District Policies Each district must update its Emergency Safety Intervention

policy to be consistent with the requirements of the statutes and regulations.

District policies must include all requirements of the statutes and regulations. Examples of these requirements are: Information on when emergency safety intervention may be

used Prohibition of the use of certain types of restraint School personnel training Procedure for documenting the use of an emergency safety

intervention Parental notification requirements Required meetings after third incident Procedure for data collection and review of all

instances of emergency safety interventions Local dispute resolution process

Prohibition of Certain Types of Restraint

Prohibited types of restraint: face-down (prone) physical restraint face-up (supine) physical restraint physical restraint that obstructs the student’s airway physical restraint that impacts a student’s primary mode of

communication chemical restraint, except as prescribed by a licensed

healthcare professional for treatment of a medical or psychiatric condition

mechanical restraint, except:• Protective or stabilizing devices required by law or used in

accordance with an order from a licensed healthcare professional;• Any device used by law enforcement officers to carry out

law enforcement duties; or• Seatbelts and other safety equipment used to secure

students during transportation.

Take Away Point: If you use an Emergency Safety Intervention, you must

1. Document it.2. Notify parents. 3. Learn from it.4. Seek training on how to implement tiers of

prevention and intervention.

Helpful Links and Contact Information

More information will be available soon regarding: • Analysis of emergency safety intervention data• Best practices for conducting a functional behavioral assessment or a functional

behavioral analysis• Best practices for writing behavior intervention plans• Reporting requirements and documentation

The following links contain the information described in the webinar:• Templates, guidance documents, emergency safety intervention statutes and

regulations, and de-escalation documents: www.ksdetasn.org • Reporting emergency safety intervention data to KSDE through the Kan-Dis web

application: http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=571

For more information, contact Laura Jurgensen at ljurgensen@ksde.org or 785-296-5522

The Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: KSDE General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, KSDE, Landon State Office Building, 900 SW Jackson, Suite 102, Topeka, KS 66612, (785) 296-3201