Harwood Unified Union School District’s Brookside Elementary School has averaged more than one physical restraint per day for at least the past five years. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, Harwood was robbed 451 times in Brookside in 2017, the most in the state at 281.

Vermont does not have laws governing the use of restraint and segregation in schools. Instead, it is governed by Vermont School Board Rule 4500.

While it is clear that within the Harwood community there is much to debate about what is causing the rate of physical restraint to be so high, we also need to ask the Vermont Department of Education and the Vermont Board of Education. How did the AOE and BOE allow hundreds of restraints in one elementary school to go unnoticed? , should not trigger an investigation or corrective action plan? What good is the no-oversight Rule 4500? Vulnerable students must be protected from the additional trauma that physical restraint has proven to inflict.

Brian Dara Mulla

Duxbury