Hawaii House Bill 1796 passed on July 2, 2014. The law is intended to ensure that school staff have the skills to handle disruptive and violent student behavior in a way that’s as safe as possible for both students and staff.
About the Law
HB 1796 prohibits the use of seclusion, mechanical restraint, and chemical restraint in public schools, establishes conditions and procedures for the use of physical restraint, requires reporting and the review of data, and makes an appropriation of $250,000 from the Hawaii Department of Education to provide resources for training during fiscal year 2014–2015.
Under the act, training is required to:
- Be provided at least annually.
- Include evidence-based techniques for preventing restraint.
- Include evidence-based techniques that are effective at keeping school personnel and students safe when restraint is used as a last resort.
- Include education in positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), safe physical escort, conflict prevention, understanding antecedents, de-escalation, and conflict management.
The act prohibits the use of physical restraint in public schools unless a student's behavior poses an imminent danger of property damage or physical injury to the student, school personnel, or others. Under the act, physical restraint is to be used only as a last resort and only for as long as the danger persists. Physical restraint can be used only when other, less intrusive interventions have been tried and failed or have been deemed inappropriate for the student.
We Can Help You Comply With Hawaii’s Law!
Schools across the US use our
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training program because it centers on prevention, de-escalation, and conflict management techniques and other alternatives to restraint and seclusion. It also offers instruction on how to use safer, less-restrictive physical interventions only as a last resort. Additionally, we offer specialized materials to help connect
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training program skills and strategies with your school-wide PBIS plan to increase positive student behavior.
Tailoring Training to Your School’s Needs
Our training can be tailored to the unique needs of your school or district. With our train-the-trainer option, select staff can be certified to teach the program to other staff on a continuing basis.
We have several
public programs coming to Hawaii, and an
on-site training option is also available.
Resources