Restraint and seclusion are not “behavior management”, they are signs the system has already failed. In this season two kickoff, Sarah and Jessica respond to a wave of recent news stories that expose what happens when school culture prioritizes control over child safety, and why the fallout is bigger than most people realize.

They unpack a disturbing string of cases, including a Pierce County principal resignation tied to a so-called “red room,” a Federal Way educator accused of assaulting a student in a hallway, a Greenwood County teacher charged after physically escalating an art-class incident, and a DOJ finding that a St. Louis district’s restraint and seclusion practices discriminated against students with disabilities. Along the way, they connect the dots between fear-based decision-making, routine punishment, trauma, and the long-term harm these practices can cause.

You’ll hear Sarah and Jessica break down:

• Why restraint and seclusion are not rare exceptions, but common practices in too many schools
• What the latest reporting reveals about “calming spaces,” reactive interventions, and repeated use
• Why “it makes sense knowing the students we have” is exactly the wrong mindset
• How data from Washington, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Missouri points to a much bigger pattern
• Why staff must stop treating children’s bodies like something to control

Jessica shares why these cases hit close to home and why backlash won’t slow her down, while Sarah pushes the conversation toward a harder but necessary question: if a practice is harmful, why is it still in the toolbox?

Together they make the case that changing the culture means removing the option, finding better tools, and refusing to normalize pain as policy.

Articles:

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/community/puyallup-herald/article316938078.html

https://www.king5.com/article/news/education/federal-way-paraeducator-accused-of-assaulting-student/281-643c5346-26b0-4fb1-9eb7-00b835b82cb7

https://www.theameryfreepress.com/news/amery-reports-uptick-in-seclusion-restraint-incidents/article_78fe752c-8f47-48ba-83af-28e10d5645be.html

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-special-school-district-st-louiss-seclusion-and-restraint-practices