SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has filed proposed
permanent rules for time out and restraint that protect the safety of all students and staff in Illinois schools. The proposed rules will permanently ban prone restraints, which are not necessary to safely de-escalate crisis situations.
The public will have multiple opportunities to provide feedback on the proposed permanent rules before they are finalized in spring 2020. The first opportunity for public comment begins now and extends until Feb. 4. The emergency rules that are currently in effect will expire on April 17.
“I sincerely thank all of the advocates, especially in the special education community, for their thoughtful partnership in ISBE's development of the proposed permanent rules. I also deeply appreciate our educators, who do one of the hardest and most important jobs in the world," said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Carmen I. Ayala. “Our schools and students are now safer as a result of this collaboration and swift action. Students should not have had to go through the horrific trauma they experienced for Illinois to implement safer policies to protect them. The new data collection for all instances of time out and restraint, in conjunction with the new protections in rule, will help prevent the inexcusable treatment they experienced from happening to another Illinois student."
The emergency rulemaking that has been in effect since Nov. 20 made Illinois the fifth state in the nation to ban isolated seclusion. The proposed permanent rules will maintain this ban and further detail the health and safety requirements for instances of time out, which may occur only in an unlocked space with a trained adult in the room. The rules will require that a student in time out must have reasonable access to food, medication, and toileting facilities and that the adult supervising the time out must assess every 15 minutes whether the student has ceased presenting dangerous behavior.
The proposed permanent rules clarify that these restrictions on time out do not pertain to student-initiated breaks; sensory breaks; brief removals to the hallway; or to appropriate disciplinary measures, such as in-school suspensions and detentions.
The proposed permanent rules will ban supine restraints, except in emergency situations when less restrictive interventions have been tried and not succeeded in stopping the imminent danger to students or staff. The rules will require that a trained adult who is not involved in the physical holding of the student observe the student during the entire incident of supine restraint. The rules also will require an additional layer of review by a psychologist, social worker, nurse, or behavior specialist if a student is restrained in a supine position in at least two separate instances within a 30-school day period.
The proposed permanent rules mandate that physical restraints must not impair a student's ability to breathe or communicate normally or be used with students who have medical or psychological limitations that contraindicate their use. Any restraint must end immediately when the threat of imminent serious physical harm ends.
The proposed permanent rules will further specify the requirements for annual training and for the notification to parents or guardians and to ISBE after any incident of time out or restraint.
Public comment on the proposed permanent rules may be submitted to ISBE via email at
rules@isbe.net, by phone, by physical mail, or to anyone in the agency. Ex parte requires any employee who receives an oral or written comment on rulemaking that is open for public comment to submit the conversation to ISBE's rules coordinator.
