This bill regulates the use of aversive interventions in schools. The bill defines
"school" as a school operated by a school district, a charter school, a private school
in which a child with a disability is enrolled following the placement or referral of
that child to the private school by a local educational agency, a private school
participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, and a school operated by
a county children with disabilities education board. The bill defines "aversive
intervention" as deliberate action, including physical restraint, seclusion, and
timeout, taken by a school employee to establish a negative association between
certain behaviors and the deliberate action. "Physical restraint" is defined in the bill
as a restriction imposed by a person that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a pupil
to freely move his or her arms, legs, or head. "Timeout" is defined in the bill as a
behavioral management technique administered by a school employee that involves
the separation of a pupil from his or her class and the placement of the pupil in a

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timeout room. The bill defines "timeout room" as an enclosed setting or isolated area
from which a pupil is capable of leaving. In contrast, "seclusion" is defined in the bill
as the placement of a pupil in a setting from which the pupil is incapable of leaving.

The bill requires each school to designate an employee to serve as a
school-based resource person to assist other school employees with the
implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports and to
appropriately administer physical restraints and timeout. The bill defines "positive
behavioral interventions and supports" as a set of evidence-based practices used to
organize teaching and learning environments and experiences for a pupil which
facilitate the pupil's successful self-awareness, self-management, and engagement
with others and with the learning process. The bill requires the Department of
Public Instruction (department) to establish a training and certification program to
be completed before a person may be designated as the school-based resource person.

The bill also requires the department to establish a training program to provide
instruction to school employees on the safe, effective, and appropriate use of physical
restraint and timeout. The bill defines a "school employee" to include a person who
is under a contract with a school. No school employee may use physical restraint or
a timeout on a pupil unless the employee has completed the training and obtained
certification under the program.

The bill prohibits a school employee from using seclusion on a pupil, using any
physical restraint that poses certain identified risks to a pupil, or using any
mechanical restraint on a pupil. The bill defines "mechanical restraint" as a device
that restricts a pupil's freedom of movement or normal access to a portion of his or
her body and that the pupil cannot easily remove. "Mechanical restraint" does not,
however, include a protective or stabilizing device that is prescribed by a health care
professional for a child with a disability. The bill also prohibits a school employee
from intentionally releasing noxious, toxic, caustic, or otherwise unpleasant
substances near a pupil. A school employee may use physical restraint or a timeout
on a pupil only if certain requirements, established in the bill, are met.

The bill limits both the circumstances under which physical restraint or a
timeout may be used on a pupil and also the period for which physical restraint or
a timeout may be used on a pupil. Physical restraint may be used only in the case
of an emergency, and only if other less intrusive interventions have failed and the
school has provided the parent of the pupil with a description of any physical
restraint that might be used. If the pupil is a child with a disability, the
individualized education program (IEP) prepared for that child must have a
behavioral intervention plan (BIP) and the BIP must authorize the use of physical
restraint in order for physical restraint to be used. Unless the school employee
obtains permission from the school principal, in the manner provided in the bill, to
extend the use of physical restraint, the school employee must stop the use of
physical restraint as soon as the purpose for which the physical restraint is used is
achieved or within 15 minutes, whichever is sooner.

Except in the case of an emergency, a timeout may be used only if other less
intrusive interventions have failed and only if the pupil's parent has seen the timeout
room and consented to the use of a timeout in writing. If the pupil is a child with a

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disability, the child's IEP must have a BIP and the BIP must authorize the use of
timeout in order for timeout to be used. In the case of an emergency, written consent
of the pupil's parent is not required for the use of a timeout on a pupil, and, if the pupil
is a child with a disability, the child need not have a BIP which authorizes the use
of timeout. Unless the school employee obtains permission from the school principal,
in the manner provided in the bill, to extend the use of timeout, the school employee
must stop the use of timeout as soon as the purpose for which the timeout is used is
achieved or within 15 minutes, whichever is sooner.

Before a room may be used as a timeout room, the room must be approved for
that use by the school district if the room is located in a school operated by or a charter
school established by the school district, or by the state superintendent if the room
is located in an independent charter school or in a private school subject to the
requirements of the bill. The bill establishes requirements which a proposed timeout
room must satisfy in order to be approved for use as a timeout room.

The bill requires a school to orally notify the parent of a pupil on whom physical
restraint or, in certain circumstances, a timeout is used as soon as practicable but in
no event later than the end of the day in which the physical restraint or timeout is
used. The bill requires each school to establish procedures for the review of the use
of physical restraint and timeout in the school. The bill also requires each school,
annually and upon the request of the department, to submit a written report
containing a summary of each use of physical restraint and certain instances in
which a timeout is used. The bill establishes procedures for the parent of a pupil,
including a pupil who is a child with a disability, to seek a hearing on or file a written
complaint regarding the use of physical restraint or a timeout on that pupil. The bill
permits the parent to appeal a determination made at a hearing or in response to the
written complaint to the state superintendent.

Finally, the bill requires a local educational agency to prepare a BIP for a child
with a disability who has not responded to the behavioral approaches specified in the
child's IEP or if the child exhibits any of the following behaviors: 1) assaultive or
self-injurious behavior; 2) behavior that causes property damage; or 3) behavior that
significantly interferes with the implementation of the child's IEP. The BIP must
contain certain information derived from a functional behavioral assessment of the
child, including a description of the specific behaviors underlying the need for the
BIP, strategies to minimize these behaviors, and recommendations for teaching and
reinforcing appropriate alternative and adaptive behaviors. A BIP may authorize
the use of physical restraint or timeout on the child, but only if the parent consents
in writing to the use of physical restraint or a timeout, and only if the use of physical
restraint or timeout is consistent with the requirements established in this bill.