FILE - The exterior of Vancouver Public Schools main offices, pictured in Vancouver, Wash., on Aug. 12, 2020.
Troy Brynelson / OPB
As the practice of restraining students continues to draw criticism across Washington schools, the family of a 5-year-old Vancouver student says a recent incident ended with a concussion and a 911 call.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School principal emailed families May 23 with a note that staff had to call emergency personnel to the school after the incident in the school’s so-called “calm room.”
“While in the calm room, our student fell while trying to jump at our staff and bumped their head on the floor,” wrote Principal Melle Soles. “We contacted both emergency responders and the child’s parents to evaluate the student to determine if they had seriously injured themselves.”
The student is a kindergartner with diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, his family told OPB. He suffered a head injury during the incident that left him feeling unwell for days.
“He was down and out for about two, three days just not feeling good and having a headache,” said Jadyn Schofield, a friend who spoke to OPB on the family’s behalf.
District spokesperson Jessica Roberts said school nurses typically run concussion evaluations on any student who hits their head. This student, Roberts said, was “exhibiting some possible symptoms” enough to warrant a 911 call. Staff also called the student’s parents.
Staff had been using mats from a Virginia-based vendor called Ukeru at the time of the incident. The company’s blocking pads are specifically designed as a substitute for restraints.
“Our staff was using Ukeru mats while working with him in an attempt to calm his emotions, but also keeping both him and our staff safe at the same time,” Roberts said.
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Vancouver Public Schools has used the mats since 2020, Roberts said. According to the vendor’s website, it requires training before a district can buy. Roberts said a staff member at each of the district’s schools is trained to use them.
According to the district’s incident report, staff had asked the student to pick up some items in the classroom. When he refused, he “started escalating, yelling at staff, jumping up on classroom cabinets and furniture, attempting to throw items and hit,” the report said.
The student fell once off a cabinet, the report said, before staff eventually steered him into another room with the Ukeru mats. He “continuously ran at staff attempting to punch and kick them.” The report also wrote that the student endured a head injury earlier in the week after falling from a tree at his mom’s house.
The student told his family that he went to kick a teacher in the room and was pushed back with a mat. He then fell back and hit his head, Schofield said. Later that day, a doctor diagnosed him with a concussion.
“We know that (the student) has really difficult behavior issues, and he does act out violently, but he’s also 45 pounds,” Schofield said. “He’s tiny. So it’s kind of hard to believe how he hit his head so hard to the point of calling 911.”
In emails provided to OPB, the student’s parents asked district officials to provide documentation of other times staff have used the mats on him. Superintendent Jeff Snell replied that while districts have to document and report instances of isolation and restraint, they do not automatically document when staff use the mats.
“We do not have a standard practice for documenting the use of Ukeru mats when it is not a restraint or isolation,” Roberts said in an email. “However, this information could still be communicated to parents in various ways, even though it is not reported to the state.”
The family also asked for security footage, but district officials replied that the the room has none.
The incident resurfaces a persistent question for Washington’s school districts: how to regulate students’ behavior — especially students with disabilities — when they are having a potentially dangerous episode. Washington state law bars restraint and isolation unless there’s an “imminent likelihood of serious harm.”
Vancouver Public Schools, which oversees King Elementary, has faced criticism for staff frequently restraining students when compared to similarly sized districts.
The district ranked first in the entire state in restraint use during the 2022-23 school year, according to the latest state data. During that period, the district reported restraining students 776 times, leading to 53 injuries to students and 137 injuries to staff.
Neighboring Evergreen School District has slightly more students, yet reported only 93 restraints that same year, the data showed.
An OPB investigation last year also found that Vancouver Public Schools security staff had been physically taking students to the ground despite the state banning such techniques in 2021.
Related: Vancouver Public Schools continued to use prohibited restraints on students after state ban
Schofield said the family won’t be returning the student to the school and is considering legal action to recoup the costs of the doctor’s visit.
When asked if the incident has provided any lessons to the district — about restraints or the mats themselves — Roberts said staff regularly review incidents, talk with parents and try to meet a student’s specific needs.
“During these meetings, school teams and parents may discuss on a case-by-case basis whether Ukeru mats are a safe and effective way to respond after de-escalation strategies have been used,” Roberts said.
