A new bill now being debated in House committee seeks to put an end to the practice of isolating children in school accused of acting out.
Back in 2019, a ProPublica investigation found upwards of 20,000 such incidents more from the 2017-18 school year and through early December 2018.
"The practices can be traumatizing to students,” ProPublica reporter Jodi Cohen told WSIL TV. “We read thousands of reports over time that describes children crying, screaming and begging to be let out of these rooms."
House Bill 0219 seeks to “ban locked seclusion of students.” The bill would also ban prone restraint or the practice of students being held face down, which has been shown to restrict breathing.
The ProPublica investigation found that other states have already started to outlaw the practice and that proposed legislation here in Illinois would include grant funds for schools to be able to readily make changes.
"This often happens to our most vulnerable children,” Cohen added. “Students with disabilities are way more likely to be restrained or secluded. If we care about our most vulnerable, as we should, then we should care about this practice."
The Illinois Senate unanimously passed the ban on such practices in 2020.
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