LEWISTON — Sending a strong message to state legislators, the School Committee passed a resolve saying the state ought to amend a law about restraining students.

Superintendent Bill Webster said he expects more school districts to follow Lewiston’s lead, which would prompt legislators to reconsider their action.

The School Committee voted unanimously Monday night to approve a resolve that said the restraint law is “a detriment” to a good classroom environment.

The resolve asks that the law be changed to consider broadening the acceptable use of restraint to include the ability of schools to prevent students from destroying property in excess of $1,000.

The resolve also asks that acceptable use of restraint include the prevention of a classroom having to stop learning when a student is out of control, that a teacher or school staffer be allowed to “guide the offending student” to another place without risking bodily harm to that student.

Webster said the intent of the law passed last year is good; the goal was to ensure students aren’t hurt if restrained in school.

But he and other school officials, including Auburn Schools Superintendent Katy Grondin, have said the law goes too far in that it prohibits a teacher or other staffer from physically escorting, holding or touching a student if that student doesn’t welcome the intervention.

The law means, Webster and Grondin have said, that if a student is smashing computers, or if a student is lying on the floor and says he or she is not moving, teachers would have to take other students out of the classroom.

Across Maine, there’s strong recognition among educators that this law “is having a detrimental impact on student learning” when a student is out of control, Webster said. “We expect to have draft legislation soon that will be widely supported to amend the existing law.”

Webster said he didn’t expect the law to be fully repealed. There is also strong support to ensure that the physical restraint of students is a last resort in schools, Webster said.

To read Sept. 7 “L-A school officials worried about new restraint law,” go to:

https://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2012/09/08/l-school-officials-worried-about-new-restraint-law/1248261