Internet Explorer 11 is not supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Despite Ban, Kentucky Teachers Still Use Dangerous Restraint Method

The state's education commissioner has ordered Kentucky public school superintendents to immediately stop using a form of Aikido training to restrain students.

The state's education commissioner has ordered Kentucky public school superintendents to immediately stop using a form of Aikido training to restrain students.

 

The letter, sent Tuesday, came in response to concerns that staff at Jefferson County Public Schools and at some other school districts had been using a method called Aikido Control Training to physically restrain students.

 

It  also follows concerns recently raised by members of a state oversight panel on child abuse that the method can result in injuries including broken bones.

 

Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt said he understands that only five school districts have had staff members trained in the Aikido method, but said the cease-and-desist letter was sent to all school districts as a precaution.

 

"We must do all that we can to ensure that our students are treated with the highest level of dignity, respect and care," Pruitt's letter said.

 

Pruitt said the Kentucky Department of Education's main concern with the training was that it includes prone or supine restraint techniques. A prone restraint is where a student is held in a face-down position and pressure is applied to the body to keep the student in that position; a supine restraint is the same thing, but with the student lying in a face-up position.

 

Some have suggested that the use of prone and supine restraint techniques increase the risk of harm to those being restrained, in part because inadvertent pressure could cause breathing or other issues. Several states, including Kentucky, have banned the use of such techniques in schools.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.