Safety and Crisis Intervention

MCSS places school safety high on the educational agenda.  This section of the website is devoted to educating stakeholders. No plan can succeed without the participation of parents and citizens in the community.  Making schools safe is a joint responsibility, requiring collaboration and cooperation.  Using media, such as this website, is a good strategy for building community awareness of both the issues involved and the progress being made. 

Georgia Department of Education: School Safety & Health Resources

OnGuard

Crisis Intervention

MCSS Prescribes to the Mindset approach for Effective Crisis Prevention. Specific personnel are assigned to apply techniques to descalate aggressive behavior that fosters a culture of prevention. Mindset techniques are used only for the purposes of crisis intervention when safety may be an issue.  Physical restraint is permissible as a last resort to ensure safety in a crisis.

MCSS ensures the following regarding the practice of the MindSet approach:

    Specific trained personnel
    Immediate response
    Data Collection
    Post-Counseling and Follow Up
    Method of reporting to parents
    All employees are informed of MindSet procedures
    Cross training and coaching of personnel

Seclusionary measures are not practiced in Miller County Schools as a behavioral or crisis prevention strategy.

 SECLUSION AND RESTRAINT FOR ALL STUDENTS

(a) Chemical restraint - any medication that is used to control behavior or restrict the student’s freedom of movement that is not a prescribed treatment for the student's medical or psychiatric condition. Use of chemical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(b) Mechanical restraint - the use of any device or material attached to or adjacent to a student’s body that is intended to restrict the normal freedom of movement and which cannot be easily removed by the student. The term does not include an adaptive or protective device recommended by a physician or therapist when used as recommended by the physician or therapist to promote normative body positioning and physical functioning, and/or to prevent self injurious behavior. The term also does not include seatbelts and other safety equipment when used to secure students during transportation. Use of Mechanical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(c)  Physical restraint - direct physical contact from an adult that prevents or significantly restricts a student’s movement. The term physical restraint does not include prone restraint, mechanical restraint, or chemical restraint. Additionally, physical restraint does not include: providing limited physical contact and/or redirection to promote student safety, providing physical guidance or prompting when teaching a skill, redirecting attention, providing guidance to a location, or providing comfort.

(d) Prone restraint - a specific type of restraint in which a student is intentionally placed face down on the floor or another surface, and physical pressure is applied to the student’s body to keep the student in the prone position. Use of prone restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(e)  Seclusion - a procedure that isolates and confines the student in a separate area until he or she is no longer an immediate danger to himself/herself or others. The seclusion occurs in a specifically constructed or designated room or space that is physically isolated from common areas and from which the student is physically prevented from leaving. Seclusion may also be referred to as monitored seclusion, seclusion timeout, or isolated timeout. Seclusion does not include situations in which a staff member trained in the use of de-escalation techniques or restraint is physically present in the same unlocked room as the student, time-out as defined in paragraph (1)(g) of this rule, in-school suspension, detention, or a student-requested break in a different location in the room or in a separate room. Use of seclusion is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(g) Time-out – a behavioral intervention in which the student is temporarily removed from the learning activity but in which the student is not confined.

(2) REQUIREMENTS

(a) The use of seclusion is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(b) The use of prone restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(c) The use of mechanical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(d) The use of chemical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs.

(e) The use of physical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs except in those situations in which the student is an immediate danger to himself or others and the student is not responsive to less intensive behavioral interventions including verbal directives or other de-escalation techniques.

1. Notwithstanding the foregoing, physical restraint is prohibited in Georgia public schools and educational programs:

(i)   as a form of discipline or punishment,

(ii) when the student cannot be safely restrained, and

(iii)    when the use of the intervention would be contraindicated due to the student’s psychiatric, medical, or physical conditions as described in the student’s educational records.

(f) All physical restraint must be immediately terminated when the student is no longer an immediate danger to himself or others or if the student is observed to be in severe distress.

(g) Schools and programs that use physical restraint must develop and implement written policies to govern the use of physical restraint. Parents must be provided information regarding the school or program’s policies governing the use of physical restraint. The written policies must include the following provisions:

1.    Staff and faculty training on the use of physical restraint and the school or programs policy and procedures,

2.    Written parental notification when physical restraint is used to restrain their student within a reasonable time not to exceed one school day from the use of restraint,

3.    Procedures for observing and monitoring the use of physical restraint.

4.    The use of physical restraint to be documented by staff or faculty participating in or supervising the restraint for each student in each instance in which the student is restrained.

5.    Procedures for the periodic review of the use of restraint and the documentation described in paragraph.

(h) Schools and programs that use physical restraints must ensure that staff and faculty are trained in the use of physical restraint. This training shall be provided as a part of a program which addresses a full continuum of positive behavioral intervention strategies as well as prevention and de-escalation techniques. Schools and programs must maintain written or electronic documentation on training provided and the list of participants in each training. Records of such training must be made available to the Georgia Department of Education or any member of the public upon request.

(i)   Nothing in this rule shall be construed to interfere with a school system, school or program, or school or program employee’s authority to utilize time-out  or any other classroom management technique or approach, including a student’s removal from the classroom.

(j)   Nothing prohibits MCSS, its schools; programs or employees from taking appropriate action to diffuse a student fight or altercation.

(k) Nothing restricts the ability of an employee of a MCSS; its schools or programs to use its discretion in the use of physical restraint to protect students or others from imminent harm or bodily injury. Nothing in this rule shall be construed to impose ministerial duties on individual employees of a school system, school or program when acting to protect students or others from imminent harm or bodily injury.

(l) In some instances in which a student is an immediate danger to himself or herself or others, the school or program must determine when it becomes necessary to seek assistance from law enforcement and/or emergency medical personnel.Nothing shall be construed to interfere with the duties of law enforcement or emergency medical personnel.

1. Parents must be immediately informed when students are removed from the school or program setting by emergency medical or law enforcement personnel.

Internet Safety

It is the belief of the Miller County School System that the use of telecommunications, including the Internet, in instructional programs is an educational strategy that facilitates communication, innovation, resource sharing, and access to information.  Use of the Internet must be in support of education and research and consistent with the educational mission, goals, and objectives of the school system.

All students and employees must sign an agreement to abide by the Miller County School District's terms and conditions of Internet acceptable use as a condition of being granted the privilege to use the District's technology resources and computer network.

It shall be the policy of the Miller County Board of Education that the school system shall have in continuous operation, with respect to any computers belonging to the school having access to the Internet:

1.    A qualifying "technology protection measure," as that term is defined in Section 1703(b)(1) of the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000; and

2.    Procedures or guidelines developed by the Superintendent, administrators and/or other appropriate personnel which provide for monitoring the online activities of users and the use of the chosen technology protection measure to protect against access through such computers to visual depictions that are (i) obscene, (ii) child pornography, or (iii) harmful to minors, as those terms are defined in Section 1703(b)(1) and (2) of the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000.  Such procedures or guidelines shall be designed to:

i. Provide for monitoring the online activities of users to prevent, to the extent practicable, access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and the World Wide Web;

ii. Promote the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications;

iii. Prevent unauthorized access, including so-called "hacking," and other unauthorized activities by minors online;

iv. Prevent the unauthorized disclosure, use and dissemination of personal identification information regarding minors; and

 

v. Restrict minors' access to materials "harmful to minors," as that term is defined in Section 1703(b)(2) of the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000.
 

vi. Provide for students age-appropriate instruction regarding safe and appropriate behavior on social networking sites, chat rooms, and other Internet services, behaviors that may constitute cyber bullying, and how to respond when subjected to cyber bullying.
 

The Superintendent or designee is authorized to develop and implement acceptable use guidelines as a condition to users having access to the district's technology resources and Internet use.
 

All students and employees shall sign an Acceptable Use Agreement verifying that they have read and understand the district's guidelines for using the Internet and that they understand the consequences for violation of the guidelines.

MCSS Procedures - MindSet Safety and Crisis Intervention

• Federal Programs Director ensures that appropriate staff receive training and all employees are aware of procedures.
• Principal ensures that all personnel understand when to recognize an aggressive behavior that requires a MindSet approach
• Only MindSet trained personnel can apply desescalation strategies or perform restraint.
• The Principal must complete the physical restraint report and file it with the Federal Programs Director within 24 hours
• Parents are to be contacted following MindSet approach. Contact methods include: 1) Phone Call, 2) Visit to Parent's residence, 3) Request to parent to visit school.
• The Principal's Incident Report must be sent to the Parent by certified mail.
• There must be follow up strategies of lesser intensity than MindSet following the incident.