By Stacey Wells ‘15

In light of the continuous police brutality and the controversy surrounding it, the issue of how schools deal with restraint has been brought front and center. MCPS has an extensive policy on how staff members should handle potentially threatening students.

In the MCPS document Classroom Management and Student Behavior Interventions, it is stated that security and a five-member crisis team can perform restraints on excessively violent students, though only as a last resort. The crisis team, composed of a select few staff members, is annually chosen by the principal and receives professional training on how to correctly handle and restrain students. However, these regulations only apply to MCPS staff, meaning that police officer Mauricio Veiga, Sherwood’s School Resource Officer (SRO), does not follow these rules; instead he abides by federal law.

Upon hearing the term “restraint,” one most likely thinks of a staff member breaking up a fight, but that is actually not the case. According to MCPS guidelines, physical restraint does not include stopping a fight, briefly holding a student or moving a student from one area to another. A staff member pulling one student off another during a fight would be classified as “intervention” and would not have to follow the rules under the restraint policy.

Restraints are only permitted in extreme situations. “We would only restrain when a student is a violent and physical threat to others or himself … [or] school property,” said MCPS Field Security Coordinator Michael Jones. If such a situation should occur then security or the crisis team would be called to the scene in order to correctly handle the student. The restraint of the student must be done in a humane manner, must have no intent to harm and can last no longer than 30 minutes.

After the restraint is over, the student is required to be examined by health room staff in order to document any injuries or distress. “We would only restrain students if we just don’t have any other choice,” said Sherwood Security Team Leader Patrick Rooney.

Staff members must take multiple steps before moving on to such drastic measures. During a fight, staff members are required to take action—whether it is calling for security or intervening physically. But in the case of restraining a student, security and the crisis team are taught nonviolent intervention methods, such as how to talk to a student who may become a potential threat and how to correctly lead a student away from the situation. On January 19, Sherwood’s security staff attended a four-hour nonviolent intervention workshop to refresh their skills and strategies. “The last thing we want to do is put hands on a student,” said Rooney.

SRO Veiga acts as a support role for security, and the law grants him the right to automatically restrain students if he needs to do so. Normally, Veiga lets security handle any problems, but he does have the discretion to choose if he wants to get involved in the situation or not.