Special Education

Restraint data collection updates, memo from Russell Johnston August 30, 2017

August 30, 2017

Dear Superintendents, Charter School Leaders, Special Education Directors, and Directors of Approved Private Schools:

On December 15, 2016 the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced a newly-developed online restraint data collection tool to help your district with meeting the data collection and reporting requirements of 603 CMR 46.00 Prevention of Physical Restraint and Requirements if Used. It is also the conduit through which schools and districts must now report restraint data to ESE.

• All restraint data for the 2016-2017 school year must be received by 5pm on Thursday, September 7, 2017.

• The 2016-2017 restraint data collection will close at 5pm on Thursday, September 7, 2017 so we can open the 2017-2018 collection at 9am on Monday, September 11, 2017.
  
  

• After entering all 2016-2017 data, the box at the bottom of your district's data collection page must be checked to certify and complete the submission process. You will then see the following message at the bottom of your page, "Your data was successfully submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education."

• The Bulk Submission Tool is now available to those districts with particularly high numbers of restraint records to still upload. Please access this tool by clicking on your organization and then "Bulk Submission Tool" located on your organization's data collection page.

• For those districts with no data to report, you must still certify that you have no data to report. Follow the restraint data instructions to access the tool and make sure to check the box to certify and complete your submission.

Thank you for your time and attention to these important requirements. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Special Education Planning and Policy Development at 781-338-3375 or specialeducation@doe.mass.edu.

Sincerely,


Russell Johnston, PhD
Senior Associate Commissioner, District Support