Here is a sample email you can send your Senators about S.2020.  Feel free to change it as you like.  Please email even if you have not been personally affected.  The Senate must hear from many, many people!

Dear Senator/Representative,

Please COSPONSOR the Keeping All Students Safe Act, S. 2020 in the Senate and H.R. 1381 in the House of Representatives.  It will create minimum standards to protect all children nationwide from restraint and seclusion.

(Special instructions if your child/family member/friend was restrained or secluded:  tell their story, if you feel comfortable.  Or just add a short sentence to say it happened to your child/someone you know, or could happen.  Even if you do not have a story or do not want to share one, please email your representatives in Congress to ask them to cosponsor the bill.)

The Keeping All Students Safe Act will ban physical restraint except in emergency situations when there is an immediate threat of physical danger to a person. Only 14 states require this today. Both bills protect children from dangerous seclusion, where they are locked in a room or forced into a room where the door is otherwise blocked. Far too often, children have been restrained or secluded for not doing assignments, being noisy, behavioral control, discipline, or punishment. A Government Accountability Office study found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and death from restraint and seclusion in school. They included a young teen who hanged himself in a seclusion room while a teacher sat outside and a 7 year old who was restrained face down and died because she could not breathe. The GAO documented at least 20 stories of children who died from restraint. Other children suffered injuries, including broken bones and bloody noses, or had post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The bills will require schools to notify parents on the same day if a child has been subjected to the techniques, and to follow up in writing within 24 hours. Too many parents never find out what happened; 27 states have no parental notification requirements at all, and others have no deadlines. Parents need to know quickly, so they can watch for concussions, hidden internal injuries, and trauma. The bills ban life-threatening restraints, such as those that interfere with breathing. They ban chemical and mechanical restraint, like locking children into devices and chairs, and tying and duct-taping them to furniture. The bills require the collection of data to improve decision-making and provide the public with information. Neither bill prevents schools from using time out, where staff can work with a child to calm him/her in a quieter space together.

While some states have laws protecting children, many do not, and others are not very strong.  Please COSPONSOR THE KEEPING ALL STUDENTS SAFE ACT, S.2020 and H.R. 1381, to ensure that all children nationwide are protected from these abuses.

Sincerely yours,

Your name here