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- The Utah State Board of Education updated seclusion rules to reduce confusion.
- The new rules redefine "immediate danger" and prohibit seclusion for discipline.
- Schools must notify parents on the day of seclusion incidents and provide documentation within 48 hours upon request.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Board of Education voted this week to update rules surrounding the use of seclusion in schools, citing confusion across public school districts and charter schools when and how the practice should be applied.
Seclusion, which involves isolating a student in a room for up to 30 minutes, is legal in Utah if the student poses an immediate danger to themselves or others.
A KSL Investigation found during the 2020-2021 school year, Utah schools reported nearly 1,300 instances of seclusion. The KSL Investigators also reached out to Utah school districts to identify which ones currently use seclusion rooms.
Below is a breakdown of the results.
The updated rule redefines "immediate danger" as "imminent risk of physical violence towards self or others, or other physical behaviors, which are likely to cause imminent risk of substantial or serious bodily injury," aiming to eliminate ambiguities that previously led to inconsistent application. The previous definition included the word "aggression," which board member Joseph Kerry found too ambiguous.
"When I Googled the word aggression, the example they give, 'His chin was jutting out with aggression,' well, under that definition, I think a lot of students may fall under that particular definition," Kerry said during a public meeting.
The board also moved seclusion rules to a section of state rule emphasizing that the practice should never be used for disciplinary purposes.
"Seclusion timeout will never change the behavior of a child," said KrisAnne Lewis, the board's student services coordinator. She confirmed that the changes were prompted in part by confusion over the definition of "immediate danger" and its prior inclusion of vague terms like "aggression."
The changes also now require schools to notify parents on the day of the incident and provide documentation within 48 hours upon request.
Last fall, Alisha Hadden told KSL Investigators how her 9-year-old daughter, Gracelynn, was placed in a room her school called "the booth." Hadden said the experience left her daughter unable to talk about the incident.
"I don't understand how it's OK at school," Hadden said.
