Preventing Harmful Restraint And Seclusion In Schools Act

Floor Speech

Preventing Harmful Restraint And Seclusion In Schools Act

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Mr. COURTNEY. First of all, I want to thank the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, Mr. Miller, for his leadership on this legislation.

The hearing which was held at the Education and Labor Committee was one of the most stunning, amazing, eye-opening events, I think, of this Congress. The bipartisanship which came together after that hearing to craft this legislation, again, I think is a testament to your leadership and the bipartisanship that you have created on that committee.

Mr. Speaker, back in 1998, The Hartford Courant won a Pulitzer Prize for a four-part investigation of seclusion and restraint all across the country. The name of the series was ``A Nationwide Pattern of Death,'' which I'd like to offer a copy of for the Record, and which, again, in chapter and verse, laid out the shocking, uneven application of this type of force against America's schoolchildren. In Connecticut, it actually resulted in action in terms of legislation which was put into place. Many of the minimum standards which are included in the legislation we're voting on today were incorporated into that measure. But, clearly, as a Nation, we have much more work to be done.

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