Florida law will block restraints for students with disabilities

After lawmakers unanimously passed the measure this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that will help prevent the use of devices to restrain public-school students with disabilities.

The bill (HB 235) will block school employees from using mechanical restraints, though school resource officers and guards would be able to use the devices to restrict students in grades 6 through 12.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat who sponsored the measure in the Senate, released a statement Friday that said “Florida now prohibits the use of mechanical restraints in schools for children with exceptionalities, except in emergency situations as a last resort.

The use of restraints can be traumatizing and physically harmful for children, and this policy will go a long way toward making sure Florida classrooms are as safe as possible for students with exceptionalities.”