NEWS

Questions unanswered about shackled students

Scott Wartman
swartman@nky.com
The ACLU’s website shows an 8-year-old with handcuffs around his arms. The ACLU has sued the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office and a deputy over the restraint.

The video of an 8-year-old boy in a Covington school crying and kicking with adult handcuffs pinching his biceps behind his back has drawn outrage across the country.

Headlines from around the country raised questions on where the law draws the line on use of force against students and how often this happens.

Two incidents in Covington schools involving two students drew a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The lawsuit alleges Kenton County Deputy Sheriff and School Resource Officer Kevin Sumner handcuffed two elementary school students in Covington. One was the 8-year-old boy in the video identified only as S.R. Another was a 9-year-old girl identified only as L.G.

Here’s what we know:

Will Sumner be disciplined?

The Kenton County Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to messages asking their response to the video and lawsuit. A statement from Covington Schools Superintendent Alvin Garrison said the sheriff’s office is “looking into the complaints.” The school district and the sheriff’s office wouldn’t elaborate.

Lawyers for the families of L.G. and S.R. claim the sheriff’s deputy violated Kentucky Administrative Regulations passed by the General Assembly in 2013 that prohibit restraining students for punishment. They also claim the shackling violated the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as students’ constitutional rights.

That’s not a criminal violation, but could warrant an internal investigation and disciplinary action, said Kenyon Meyer, an attorney for the families of L.G. and S.R. He’s not aware of any internal investigation or disciplinary hearing for Sumner.

The fact that he’s a school resource office also creates some ambiguity on who’s responsible, said Brad Hughes, spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards Association.

He’s not aware of the issue of school resource officers using restraint being raised in Kentucky until now.

“One of the questions being asked around here, what do we need to start recommending as far as school training of resource officers?” Hughes said.

What are the rules for restraining students?

State regulations prevent using physical restraint or forced seclusion for punishment, but allow for restraint of students to break up fights or prevent injury. It also doesn’t prevent law enforcement from restraining students in the line of duty.

Until 2013, Kentucky didn’t have regulations for how students should be restrained in school. The Kentucky General Assembly passed regulations that mandated all school staff, including school resource officers, undergo training on how and when to restrain students, as well as alternative methods to de-escalate hostile situations without physical restraint.

The state defines physical restraint as immobilizing a student’s ability to move the torso, arms, legs or head, but does not include temporary touching or holding to guide a student or protect them.

Who videotaped the boy being handcuffed and why?

The lawyers for the families of the students obtained the video from the Covington Independent Schools through a Freedom of Information Act request.

School personnel were videotaping the one incident involving the boy before the deputy handcuffed him, Meyer said. He doesn’t know who and why. The school district wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the case.

How common are students restrained?

Thousands of students across Kentucky get forcibly restrained in a school year.

As part of the legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2013, the Kentucky Department of Education began tracking the number of incidents where students were restrained in school.

Across Kentucky in 2013-14, there were 2,473 times where students were restrained, though that doesn’t mean all were handcuffed. The state’s statistics don’t specify the type of restraint.

In Covington during that school year, school staff restrained students 40 times.

Students with disabilities are most often restrained. A U.S. Department of Education study in 2014 found while students with disabilities make up 12 percent of the student population in the country, they account for 75 percent of the students who are physically restrained by adults in school.

In the Covington case, both the boy and girl suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The boy also was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

This case will hopefully get local law enforcement to change its policies on using restraint on students, particularly those with disabilities, said Claudia Center, an attorney for the ACLU.

“We want to raise awareness of the problem with children with disabilities being subjected to physical restraint in school, such as handcuffing, and promote intervention for these situations,” Center said. “There are known strategies for de-escalating these situations.”