Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Releases Seclusion and Restrain Report

Thursday, May 19th, 2022 -- 1:01 PM

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction published information reported by Wisconsin schools on incidents where seclusion and/or physical restraint was used during the 2020-21 school year.

Pursuant to 2019 Wisconsin Act 118, Wisconsin schools are required to submit a report containing information on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools to the DPI annually by December 1.

The 2020-21 school year is the second year this information is required to be submitted to the DPI. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and some Wisconsin schools shifting from in-person instruction to virtual instruction, the DPI urges caution when comparing incident rates across schools and to the previous academic year. Statewide, schools reported 4,314 instances of seclusion and 4,949 instances where physical restraint was used.

Among those instances, 1,288 students were involved in seclusion incidents, and 1,649 were involved in physical restraint instances. Data does not indicate whether incidents of seclusion and restraint occurred simultaneously.

Students with individualized education programs (IEPs) were involved in instances at a higher rate than other students, comprising 85 percent of all seclusion incidents and 84 percent of all physical restraint incidents reported for the 2020-21 school year.

Reported data shows that 1,654 public and private Special Needs Scholarship Program schools (64 percent of the total number) reported zero seclusion or physical restraint instances for the 2020-21 school year.

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