This document summarizes regulations regarding the use of emergency safety interventions (ESI) in schools. It outlines four key standards around communication, documentation, training, and appropriateness. It describes requirements for immediate implementation of some policies, with a good faith effort for full implementation by the 2013-14 school year. Conditions for use of ESI include only using it as a last resort in an emergency when there is an imminent risk of harm. Schools must notify parents within two days of using ESI on a student and provide annual notice of ESI policies. All instances of ESI must be documented and data collected and reviewed biannually.

1. USD 353

2. Objective for Today
To obtain an awareness of
Emergency Safety
Interventions.

3. Four Key Standards
Regulations provide standards for:
1) Communication
2) Documentation
3) Training
4) Appropriateness

4. Implementation of Regulations
Red = Immediate
Implementation
Yellow= Good Faith Effort with
Full
Implementation by Beginning of
2013–14 School Year
Prohibition of certain types of
restraint
Development of district policies
Written parental notification of
the use of an ESI with a student
within two school
days
School personnel training
Procedure for documentation of
the use of an ESI
Provide parents with annual
notice of the
district’s ESI policies
Procedure for data collection of
all
instances of ESI
Review of all instances of ESI
Districts report all incidents of Local dispute resolution process

5. Application
 Applies to both special education and
regular education students.
 Applies to public schools, including charter
schools.
 Applies to school staff, including independent
contractors and their employees, and student
teachers.
 Does not apply to law enforcement officers
working in the school.

6. Conditions on the use of ESI
May not be used for the purpose of managing behavior
May be used only in an emergency and when there is an imminent risk of
harm or danger.
Imminent risk of harm or danger: The immediate and impending threat of a
person causing serious bodily injury to self or others.
Serious bodily injury involves:
 A substantial risk of death;
 Extreme physical pain;
 Protracted and obvious disfigurement; or
 Protracted lost or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ or
mental faculty.
May be used only as a last resort

7. Will I Get Into Trouble for Using an ESI?
There is no prohibition on the use of seclusion and
physical restraint.
 The intention of the regulation is to educate
school personnel about the dangers of using an
ESI with a student.
 The use of an ESI should never be taken lightly
and always be the last step taken. If an ESI is
used with a student, school personnel must follow
the process set out in the regulation and in their
district’s policies and procedures.

8. Emergency Safety Intervention (ESI)
 Emergency
Immediate danger
 Safety
Immediate danger of student harming self or others
 Intervention
Restraint or seclusion should only be used for limited periods of time
and should cease immediately when the immediate danger of
harm to self or others has dissipated.

9. Technical Definition - Seclusion
Seclusion is not a place, it is a process.
Seclusion is identified by meeting three criteria:
The student is…
(1) Placed in an enclosed area by school personnel.
(2) Purposefully isolated from adults and peers.
(3) Prevented from leaving, or reasonably believes
that the student will be prevented from leaving,
the enclosed area.

10. Technical Definition - Restraint
Restraint can be chemical, mechanical, or
physical.

11. ESI is not discipline
 Restraint or seclusion should never be used as
punishment or discipline (e.g., placing in seclusion
for out-of-seat behavior), as a means of coercion
or retaliation, or as a convenience.

12. How to determine if it is
‘reasonable’?
Grandma Test
YouTube Test
OCR Test

13. ESI and Behavior Plans
 ESI should not be a planned intervention for
a specific student under foreseeable
circumstances.
 ESI is not an acceptable alternative to
prevention.
 If you are planning for it, it means you can
see it coming. If you can see it coming, every
effort should be made for prevention.

14. ESI Duration
ESI should be discontinue as soon as
the immediate danger has passed.

15. Training & Prevention
Teachers and other personnel should be trained
regularly on the appropriate use of effective
alternatives to physical restraint and seclusion,
such as positive behavioral interventions and
supports and, only for cases involving imminent
danger of serious physical harm, on the safe use
of physical restraint and seclusion.

16. Types of restraint prohibited by the
regulations:
 Prone (face-down)
 Supine (face-up)
 Physical restraint that obstructs the airway of a student
 Physical restraint that impacts a student’s primary mode
of communication
 Chemical restraint, except as prescribed treatments for
a student’s medical or psychiatric condition by a person
appropriately licensed to issue these treatments
 Mechanical restraint, except those protective or
stabilizing devices ordered by a person appropriately
licensed to issue the order for the device or devices
required by law.

17. Parental Notification
When an ESI is used with a student, the
parent must be notified within two school
days.
 Parents will annually be provided with
the district’s written policies on the use of
ESI.
 School’s website; and School code of
conduct, school safety plan, or student
handbook

18. Documentation of the Use of an ESI
Any time an ESI is used with a student it must be
documented.
Documentation must include:
 Date and time of the intervention
 Type of intervention (seclusion or restraint)
 Length of time (in minutes) the intervention was
used
 Names of school personnel who participated in or
supervised the intervention

19. Data Collection and Review of All
Instances of ESI
 Districts must establish a procedure for the
collection, maintenance, and periodic review
of the use of ESI at each school.
 Districts must develop a system to collect
and maintain documentation for each use of
an ESI.
 Information maintained by the school on the
use of ESI must be compiled and submitted,
at least biannually, to the district
superintendent or district designee.

20. Do Schools Still Report to KSDE?
Districts shall report all incidents of ESI
to KSDE by the date and in the form
specified by KSDE.
 2012-2013 Reporting – No changes,
current practice
 2013-2014 Reporting – Changes
(definitions)