DOJ Alleges Abuse at Missouri Special School District

The Department of Justice announced Monday that a Missouri school district serving children with disabilities violated the Americans with Disabilities Act through its use of seclusion and restraint.

After a 21-month investigation, DOJ said that the Special School District of St. Louis County violated federal disability law by using seclusion and restraint on students with disabilities and that the practices were not limited to emergencies, placing children at risk of harm.

Seclusion occurs when a student is isolated in a locked, enclosed space and prevented from leaving. Restraint involves immobilizing a student's body or restricting the movement of their arms, legs, torso, or head.

Federal investigators found that the district secluded more than 300 students nearly 4,000 times and restrained nearly 150 students 777 times in the period reviewed.

At one school with under 100 students, seclusion was used 1,667 times. Every student enrolled there was secluded or restrained at least once.

At another school, a student spent 101 hours — the equivalent of 17 school days — in seclusion in a single school year.

DOJ said the practices were occurring so frequently that they were used routinely rather than in response to immediate safety threats, the only circumstance Missouri law permits.

"The Justice Department will not tolerate the abuse of our most vulnerable students," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads DOJ's Civil Rights Division.

"Parents should not have to worry that their children could be subjected to solitary confinement and dangerous restraint techniques at school because of their disabilities. This Civil Rights Division will put an end to these unlawful practices everywhere we find them."

DOJ announced the findings Monday in a letter to the school district's legal counsel at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP in St. Louis.

"While Missouri law and District policy only permit the use of seclusion (which is the traumatizing confinement of a student alone in a small room) and restraint when there is an imminent danger of physical harm to the student or another person, SSD routinely and systematically violates this requirement by using seclusion and restraint in response to noncompliance with school rules, verbal conduct, and other behaviors that cannot lead to any safety threat," the letter stated.

The letter noted that in one incident, a second-grade student was secluded for an hour and a half for knocking over her teacher's coffee.

In another, seclusion was used because a second grader refused to go to music class.

Another student was secluded for three and a half hours for drawing on her chair, cursing, and "being disrespectful."

"The District frequently uses seclusion long after there could be any safety threat, sometimes for hours on end," the letter stated. "Based on a review of incident reports, our expert concluded that SSD routinely uses seclusion and restraint as its initial response to misbehavior rather than as safety procedures of last resort."

DOJ offered a list of reforms needed "to remedy these gross violations of federal law" and proposed a settlement agreement.

In a statement, district officials said their legal team received the Department of Justice's notice and is reviewing the findings, KTVI-TV in St. Louis reported.

"Student safety and well-being remain our top priority," the district said. "We take these concerns seriously and are committed to ensuring our practices support students' safety, learning, and dignity."

In a separate letter to families and staff, SSD Superintendent Michael Maclin said the district will work with legal counsel and DOJ to assess the findings and determine next steps, KTVI reported.

He said the district serves students with "significant and complex needs" and that staff use proactive behavior supports, de-escalation strategies, and individualized interventions.

He said employees receive yearly training, including nonviolent crisis intervention, and confirmed that seclusion and restraint are allowed only as a last resort by trained staff when there is imminent risk of injury.