POLICY LETTER: December 16, 2010 to individuals (personally identifiable information redacted)

December 16, 2010XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX:This is in response to your electronic mail (e-mail) dated November 2, 2010, to U.S. Department of Education (Department) Secretary Arne Duncan and others at the Department. Your e-mail was forwarded to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for a response so that we may provide information to address your concerns and to follow up with you should you have additional questions. Specifically, you expressed concern with my comments regarding the use of seclusion and restraint with students with disabilities in our nation's schools. I appreciate the concerns raised in your e-mail and am pleased to respond.On Friday, October 22, 2010, I participated in the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee meeting. In your e-mail, you referred to a statement that I made at the meeting that the Department has not taken a position on the inclusion of seclusion and restraint in individualized education programs (IEPs). Like you, I believe that we must ensure that schools are places of safety for all our children. It is important that States publicize policies and guidelines so that administrators, teachers, and parents understand and consent to the limited circumstances under which seclusion and restraint may be used. Policies regarding the use of seclusion and restraint should be reviewed regularly and updated as appropriate. No child should be subjected to the abusive or potentially deadly use of seclusion or restraint in a school. Importantly, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) promotes the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports to address behavior that impedes learning; neither the IDEA nor other federal laws specifically prohibit the use of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. However, if the use of seclusion and restraint is implemented in a school in a discriminatory manner on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or disability, the Department's Office for Civil Rights would have jurisdiction over such use pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the IDEA and its implementing regulations, the vehicle for determining the content of a child's special education program is the IEP process. The IEP is a written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised at a meeting in accordance with 34 CFR 300.320 through 300.324. 34 CFR 300.320(a). Each child's IEP must include, among other components: a statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance; a statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals; and a statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, to be provided to the child or on behalf of the child, to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, and to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities, and to be