Ensuring that Children with Disabilities Attend Safe and Supportive Schools

In 2019, four courageous students stepped forward as plaintiffs to file a class action lawsuit against the California Department of Education (CDE), directors of the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and staff at Floyd I. Marchus School to challenge the unlawful and dangerous use of restraints and seclusion in non-emergency situations.   

The Floyd I. Marchus School is a public school operated by Contra Costa County that serves students with serious learning, behavioral and emotional challenges who require individualized education plans (IEPs) in order to receive a free appropriate public education.  One of the reasons that students attend specialized schools like this school is because they need highly individualized services and supports in order to learn. 

Yet, the Floyd I. Marchus school used a “Level System” behavior system that the students and their families asserted bypassed the student’s individualized education plans and behavior intervention plans and resulted in the use of restraint and seclusion. The suit asserted that these dangerous practices were the direct consequence of the state of California and the CDE’s failure to meet their constitutional responsibility for public education by their lack of oversight, intervention, and enforcement of these dangerous interventions.

Physicians, educators, and government officials have long condemned the use of restraints and seclusion on children, identifying them as ineffective and warning against their traumatizing and dangerous effects. A 2009 report from the United States Government Accountability Office documented hundreds of cases of the use of abusive restraints and found that at least twenty of these cases resulted in the victim’s death. Further, these restraints disproportionately affect students with disabilities. According to a 2014 report from the U.S. Department of Education, students with disabilities represented just 12 percent of the national student population, but accounted for 58 percent of those placed in seclusion and 75 percent of those subjected to physical restraint.  The 2017-2018 Civil Rights Data Collection Report continued to document the disproportionate impact of these dangerous practices on students with disabilities.  

In September 2022, plaintiffs reached a landmark settlement with the State of California and the Department of Education. Under the agreement, the state committed to maintain a higher degree of oversight over the school, train staff on the interventions and supports that can help students, audit the school’s records, and conduct two years of follow-up review. 

In June 2023, plaintiffs reached a settlement agreement with the Contra Costa County Office of Education to ensure that students with disabilities who attend the Floyd I. Marchus School are provided with the individualized supports and services that they need to learn, and to make sure teachers have the training they need to address behaviors without resorting to restraint and seclusion. The agreement adds to the terms agreed upon in the 2022 settlement and resolves the 2019 lawsuit.

Students across the country continue to be subject to restraint and seclusion.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, over 100,000 students are restrained or secluded each year. Several state legislatures, including New York and Connecticut, have recently introduced bills that would prohibit the use of some or all restraint and seclusion techniques and strengthen reporting requirements for greater oversight and transparency.