Bill Text: MI SB0837 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Education; discipline; definitions for state policy on schoolwide positive behavioral intervention and support plans; provide for. Amends 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1 - 380.1852) by adding sec. 1307h. TIE BAR WITH: HB 5410'16
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-02 - Referred To Committee On Education [SB0837 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2015-SB0837-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 837
March 2, 2016, Introduced by Senators HERTEL, O'BRIEN, JONES, HOPGOOD and MARLEAU and referred to the Committee on Education.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
(MCL 380.1 to 380.1852) by adding section 1307h.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1307h. As used in sections 1307 to 1307h:
(a) "Chemical restraint" means the administration of
medication for the purpose of restraint. Chemical restraint does
not include the administration of medication prescribed by and
administered in accordance with the directions of a physician.
(b) "Contingent observation" means the evidence- and research-
based situating of a pupil in a position to observe other pupils
without participating or receiving reinforcement for a specified
period of time.
(c) "De-escalation techniques" means evidence- and research-
based strategically employed verbal or nonverbal interventions used
to reduce the intensity of threatening behavior before a crisis
situation occurs.
(d) "Documentation" means documentation developed by the
department that is uniform across the state.
(e) "Emergency physical restraint" means a last resort
emergency safety intervention involving physical restraint that is
necessitated by an emergency situation and that provides an
opportunity for the pupil to regain self-control. Emergency
physical restraint includes necessary actions taken to break up a
fight or take a weapon away from a pupil. Emergency physical
restraint does not include physical restraint that is used for the
convenience of staff, as a substitute for an educational program,
as a form of discipline or punishment, as a substitute for less
restrictive alternatives, as a substitute for adequate staffing, or
as a substitute for staff training in positive behavioral supports
and crisis prevention and intervention. Emergency physical
restraint does not include a practice prohibited under section
1307b.
(f) "Emergency seclusion" means a last resort emergency safety
intervention involving seclusion that is necessitated by an
emergency situation and that provides an opportunity for the pupil
to regain self-control. To qualify as emergency seclusion, there
must be continuous adult observation of the pupil in seclusion, and
the room or area used for confinement must not be locked, must not
prevent the pupil from exiting the area if school personnel become
incapacitated or leave that area, and must provide for adequate
space, lighting, ventilation, viewing, and the safety of the pupil.
Emergency seclusion does not include confinement that occurs in a
sensory deprivation room, seclusion room, quiet room, padded
isolation room, or any other room that is outside the usual
teaching environment; the confinement of preschool children or of
pupils who are severely self-injurious or suicidal; seclusion that
is used for the convenience of staff, as a substitute for an
educational program, as a form of discipline or punishment, as a
substitute for less restrictive alternatives, as a substitute for
adequate staffing, or as a substitute for staff training in
positive behavioral supports and crisis prevention and
intervention; or a practice prohibited under section 1307b.
(g) "Emergency situation" means a situation in which a pupil's
behavior poses imminent risk to the safety of the individual pupil
or to the safety of others. An emergency situation requires an
immediate intervention.
(h) "Exclusionary time-out" means an evidence- and research-
based behavioral intervention involving the removal of a pupil from
the immediate instructional setting for a limited and specified
time in response to behavior that requires immediate and direct
cessation. An exclusionary time-out must be supervised by an adult
and can take place within the same classroom or in a nearby
location that is part of the usual teaching environment. In an
exclusionary time-out, a pupil's movement is not physically
restricted. Exclusionary time-out lies within a continuum of
procedures that help pupils self-regulate and control their
behavior. The time-out continuum is planned ignoring, withdrawal of
materials, contingent observation, and exclusionary time-out.
(i) "Functional behavioral assessment" means an evidence- and
research-based systematic process for identifying the events that
trigger and maintain problem behavior in an educational setting. A
functional behavior assessment shall describe specific problematic
behaviors, report the frequency of the behaviors, assess
environmental and other setting conditions where problematic
behaviors occur, and identify the factors that are maintaining the
behaviors over time.
(j) "Key identified personnel" means those individuals who
have received the mandatory training described in section
1307g(b)(i) to (xv).
(k) "Mechanical restraint" means the use of any device,
article, garment, or material attached to or adjacent to a pupil's
body that restricts normal freedom of movement and that cannot be
easily removed by a pupil. Mechanical restraint does not include an
adaptive or protective device recommended by a physician or
therapist when it is used as recommended, or safety equipment used
by the general pupil population as intended, such as seat belts on
school transportation.
(l) "Physical restraint" means direct physical contact that
prevents or significantly restricts a pupil's movement.
(m) "Planned ignoring" means the evidence- and research-based
systematic withdrawal of social attention for a predetermined time
period upon the onset of mild levels of problem behavior.
(n) "Positive behavioral intervention and support" means an
evidence- and research-based system that addresses challenging
behaviors in a collaborative, comprehensive, research-validated,
and humane manner and results in lasting positive changes.
Interventions may include positive strategies, program or
curricular modifications, or supplementary aids and supports
required to address the disruptive behaviors in question.
(o) "Positive behavioral intervention and support plan" means
an evidence- and research-based plan involving positive behavioral
intervention and support that provides a full continuum of methods
to support appropriate behavior, to promote safety, to discourage
violations of a public school's code of student conduct, and to
foster dignity and self-esteem in pupils. Such a plan shall
emphasize behavior that encourages learning by focusing on building
relationships; creating routines; teaching skills, rules, and
expectations; identifying replacement behaviors for behaviors that
interfere with learning; making problem behavior less effective,
efficient, and relevant; and making the desired behavior more
functional and adaptive.
(p) "Prone restraint" means the restraint of an individual
facedown.
(q) "Regularly and continuously work under contract" means
that term as defined in section 1230.
(r) "Restraint" means an action that prevents or significantly
restricts a pupil's movement. Restraint does not include the brief
holding by an adult in order to calm or comfort, the minimum
contact necessary to physically escort a pupil from 1 area to
another, the minimum contact necessary to assist a pupil in
completing a task or response if the pupil does not resist or
resistance is minimal in intensity or duration, or the holding of a
pupil for a brief time in order to prevent an impulsive behavior
that threatens the pupil's immediate safety, such as running in
front of a car.
(s) "Restraint that negatively impacts breathing" means any
restraint that inhibits breathing, including floor restraints,
facedown position, or any position in which an individual is bent
over in such a way that it is difficult to breathe. This includes a
seated or kneeling position in which an individual being restrained
is bent over at the waist and restraint that involves sitting or
lying across an individual's back or stomach.
(t) "School personnel" includes all individuals employed in a
public school or assigned to regularly and continuously work under
contract or under agreement in a public school, or public school
personnel providing service at a nonpublic school.
(u) "Seclusion" means the confinement of a pupil in a room or
other space from which the pupil is prevented from leaving.
Seclusion does not include an exclusionary time-out or emergency
seclusion.
(v) "Usual teaching environment" means a classroom, hallway,
lunchroom, gymnasium, administrative office, or other room that is
regularly used or accessed by the general student body.
(w) "Withdrawal of materials" means the evidence- and
research-based removal of materials that the pupil is using upon
the occurrence of inappropriate behavior.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless House Bill No. 5410
of the 98th Legislature is enacted into law.
