The bill will block restraints for students with disabilities in Florida

Tallahassee – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that will help prevent the use of devices to restrain public-school students with disabilities after lawmakers unanimously passed the measure this month.

Though school resource officers and guards would be able to use the devices to restrict students in grades 6 through 12, the bill (HB 235) will block school employees from using mechanical restraints.

On Friday Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat who sponsored the measure in the Senate, released a statement that said “Florida now prohibits the use of mechanical restraints in schools for children with exceptionalities, except in emergency situations as a last resort.

The use of restraints can be traumatizing and physically harmful for children, and this policy will go a long way toward making sure Florida classrooms are as safe as possible for students with exceptionalities.”