CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois schools will be allowed to restrain challenging students by physically holding them face-down on the floor for at least another year under a deal that the State Board of Education reached with a key legislative rule-making committee.
The decision comes as an emergency ban on what is called prone restraint is set to expire this month.
That ban was instituted after a joint Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois investigation on the use of seclusion and restraint in the state’s public schools. However, some small schools had objected to the ban, saying the use of such restraints can help challenging students calm down.
