Bill would curb use of restraints by school security guards

(Editor's Note: This story has been changed since it was originally published. The NAACP was not a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in 2004 against the Kent School District as stated in the earlier version.)

School security guards would be barred from using handcuffs, pepper spray or bodily force to subdue misbehaving students, under a bill that state lawmakers are considering.

A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday in Olympia for Senate Bill 6418, which would limit the use of "mechanical, chemical, and physical restraints," and mandate that such school security measures be allowed "only in emergency situations after other less intensive alternatives have failed."

Commissioned law enforcement officers, including school resource officers, would still be able to restrain students.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, also would require school districts to give an annual report to the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction, detailing their use of restraints on students.

Supporters include the Seattle/King County Branch of the NAACP, which has objected to security practices in some King County public school districts.

Kent School District was successfully sued in 2004 on behalf of 15 families, alleging that the district's school security guards violated state and federal law by discriminating against black students and using unreasonable force in administering discipline. The case was later moved to U.S. District Court, and was dismissed in May 2005.

Though several years have passed, members of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People continue to be concerned about school security practices and about the relatively higher numbers of black students being disciplined, NAACP President James Bible said Tuesday.

He questioned whether handcuffs or other physical restraints -- or school resource officers, for that matter -- are appropriate in school settings.

"We don't want the makings of a police state," he said.

But others argue that such measures are necessary to protect students and staff. In the Kent School District, "our officers use a wide variety of tools to ensure students' safety," said spokeswoman Becky Hanks.

"When officers are unable to de-escalate a situation, they sometimes need to restrain a student in order to prevent that student from hurting themselves or someone else. This bill would prohibit officers from using that tool in those rare situations it's needed."