On December 14, 2011, the West Virginia Department of Education approved Policy 4373: Expected Behavior in Safe and Supportive Schools, which goes into effect for county boards of education on July 1, 2012.

This updated, comprehensive policy provides school employees, students, and parents with one policy that includes all aspects of what is expected regarding student behavior and what is expected from school systems in order to create safe and supportive schools.

Section four of the updated policy pertains to the use of physical restraint in public schools. School employees, volunteers, and/or independent contractors who may need to use restraint shall be provided training according to the following requirements:

• A core team of personnel in each school must be trained annually in the use of a nationally recognized restraint process. The team must include an administrator or designee and any general or special education personnel likely to use restraint;
• Personnel called upon to use restraint in an emergency and who have not received prior training must receive training within 30 days following the use of restraint;
• Training on use of restraint must include prevention and de-escalation techniques and provide alternatives to the use of restraint;
• All trained personnel shall also receive instruction in current professionally accepted practices and standards regarding behavior interventions and supports.

CPI can help you meet the new West Virginia requirements.
Since 1980, more than six million professionals—including tens of thousands of educators and special educators—have participated in CPI’s nationally recognized training programs and learned safe, nonharmful strategies for de-escalating challenging behavior. CPI's Nonviolent Crisis Intervention^® training empowers educators with the skills and confidence to manage students' acting-out behaviors at the earliest possible stage.

Our training is flexible and can be tailored to the unique needs of your school. With our train-the-trainer option, you'll receive the best return on investment by certifying select staff to teach the program to other educators in your school or district on a continual basis. In addition, CPI can help coordinate training for all the schools in your district.


For more information
If you have any questions or concerns about Nonviolent Crisis Intervention^® training in relation to these new requirements or to discuss on-site training options, please contact Craig Tautges today at 877.877.5389 Ext. 7153 or email ctautges@crisisprevention.com.

For additional information about West Virginia's Policy 4373 or to read the regulation in its entirety, visit crisisprevention.com/legislation. We look forward to sharing our core philosophy of Care, Welfare, Safety, and Security^SM with you, your staff, and the students in your care.
 

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