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RSU 05 updates restraint and seclusion policy after state law change
Summary
The RSU 05 board approved revisions to the district’s physical restraint and seclusion policy reflecting recent legislative changes and clarified reporting details for incidents.
The RSU 05 School Board on Oct. 22, 2025, approved amendments to its policy and procedure on physical restraint and seclusion to reflect recent changes in state law and to clarify incident-reporting items, Superintendent Tom Gray told the board.
Gray summarized the legal shift that prompted the change: “The legislature is making it easier for educators to use restraint and seclusion than they had before,” he said, explaining the revisions intend to align district practice with the updated state guidance while preserving safeguards.
Key changes explained to the board include a fuller definition of “voluntary physical contact” used for instructional prompts (for example, a teacher guiding a student’s hand to model a pencil grip) and a lowered threshold for what constitutes the risk of “serious physical injury.” Under the revision, a risk that would require intervention by a medical practitioner — including a school nurse — may justify restraint or seclusion, whereas the previous benchmark referenced emergency-room‑level injury.
The updated procedure retains requirements for incident documentation, including less‑restrictive interventions attempted prior to restraint or seclusion and a checklist of items that must appear in each incident report (for example, whether the student has an IEP or 504 plan and whether medical assistance was required). Board members asked staff to correct a small wording issue in the draft procedure and to keep redundant reporting fields under review for clarity; staff said the draft came from outside legal counsel and reflected sample policy language.
The board approved the changes by voice vote. The district will implement the revised policy and continue collecting incident-level data as required by state law and district practice.
