State bans locked seclusion rooms; district removes doors this summer

What happened

New state regulations ban locking a student alone in a seclusion room and redefine timeout and emergency seclusion. The School Committee adopted an updated restraint policy effective July 1, 2026, and the district is removing doors from timeout rooms in its buildings this summer to comply.

Why it matters to families

This changes how the district can respond when a student in crisis needs to be restrained or separated from other students. The district is rebuilding its entire seclusion and restraint procedure manual and held listening sessions for parent feedback before the new rules took effect.

The evidence

The June 8, 2026 minutes record: 'Locks on Timeout Rooms: Timeout has to be voluntary... The new regulations state no locks on time out rooms... Seclusion is involuntary confinement alone in a room... and with the new regulations is explicitly prohibited. The district will work in our buildings over the summer, and one of the first steps is that the doors will be removed from a room that would be utilized for this purpose.' The April 27, 2026 minutes record the committee voting 8-0 to approve Policy JKAA 'to go into effect on July 1, 2026' aligned with DESE regulations 603 CMR 46.00 and 603 CMR 18.00.

The source