May 15, 2019
DREDF and co-counsel Public Counsel and Sullivan & Cromwell filed a class action lawsuit this morning on behalf of five elementary school children with disabilities and their parents and guardians against the California Department of Education (CDE), directors of the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and staff at Floyd I. Marchus School to challenge the illegal and abusive use of restraints and seclusion in non-emergency situations. As a result of these abuses, Plaintiffs have been denied their right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and their constitutional right to an equal educational opportunity. State and Federal laws prohibit and condemn the use of restraints and seclusion on children, identifying them as ineffective and warning against their traumatizing and dangerous effects. A 2009 report from the United States Government Accountability Office documented hundreds of cases of the use of abusive restraints and found that at least twenty of these cases resulted in the victim’s death. Further, these restraints disproportionately affect students with disabilities.