House Bill Limits Use of Restraints

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House has voted to impose federal rules for restricting the use of physical and chemical restraints on schoolchildren following reports that abuses of such disciplinary methods were responsible for injuries and even deaths.

The bill would allow physical restraint or locked seclusion only when there is imminent danger of injury.

It bans mechanical restraints such as strapping children to chairs or duct-taping body parts, and prohibits behavior-controlling medications that aren't prescribed by doctors.

It applies to public and private schools and preschools that receive federal education money.

House Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller cited the 2002 case in Texas of a 14-year-old who died after his 230-pound teacher placed him facedown on the floor and lay on top of him.

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