CBS 6 News

The proposed bill creates enforceable statewide standards and strengthens protections against the use of physical restraint as a behavioral intervention, such as what happened at Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady. In northern New York, parents of an 8-year-old student who is nonverbal and autistic are suing the Salmon River Central School District for allegedly putting their son inside a wooden box as a form of punishment. In Schenectady, a picture shows a staff member stepping on a second-grader with ADHD as a way to restrain him. These situations are what led Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara to demand an enforceable statewide standard. “It’s beyond shocking. I mean, you don’t even have the words,” Santabarbara said. The lawmaker says parents did not learn about what happened to their child at school until pictures showed up online. Now, he says, even more parents are concerned that similar incidents are happening to their kids. “It strengthens the oversight, and that’s what’s needed here: more oversight. It requires immediate, same-day notification to the parents or guardians,” Santabarbara said. The bill would also explicitly prohibit the use of enclosure or confinement practices, such as putting a child in a box, which is the main claim in a lawsuit filed against the Salmon River Central School District.