LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Students in Jefferson County Public Schools were physically held down or confined to a room more than 4,400 times last school year — but the school district only correctly reported 174 of those instances to the state.
The Courier-Journal reports (http://cjky.it/1QDM9ut) that the state data says JCPS students were restrained 168 times last school year and secluded six times. JCPS says students were actually restrained or secluded 4,403 times last year.
Superintendent Donna Hargens says the problem arose when schools reported problems to an internal database, not the state. In an email to state Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt, Hargens said JCPS is working to figure out how to import the data to the state database.
Per Kentucky’s 2013 regulation, restraint and seclusion may only be used if a student’s behavior poses imminent danger or physical harm to themselves or others.