Students and parents have experienced some confusion about a letter sent from the District regarding a new state law in which confinement may be enforced with parental consent.

House Bill 2476, regarding solitary confinement, was passed on Apr. 3, 2013. Before the adoption of the law, Arizona was only one of six states that had no regulations governing confinement of students in public schools.

According to Legislative Minutes about why this law was necessary, the lack of regulations led to a lawsuit against the Deer Valley Elementary School where a child was isolated multiple times in a small room without parent’s knowledge or consent.

Confinement is defined as leaving a student alone in an enclosed space. Principal Dan Serrano said,” Confinement can be something where you put a student in a room for time out, it could be an office, it could be a room.”

The amount of time the student is in confinement varies with situation and also where a student is placed. Serrano also said, “Every disciplinary situation is, there is not a one size fits all, you just have to use common sense on how to relieve it.”

However, Superintendent Dr. Camielle Casteel said,“Chandler Unified School District has chosen not to use confinement for disciplinary purposes.”

Although the District has chosen not to use confinement for disciplinary purposes, “It may be used for safety or therapeutic reasons when a student poses imminent physical harm to him/herself or others,” Casteel said.

But why the letter was may have confused some students. Freshman Bryce Burley expressed his concern about the policy,”I was confused on why they would send the letter so late in the year and why the subject was brought up,” he said.

The letter was sent out because of the state statute that every school superintendent needs a written parent consent to use confinement.

This policy will not change and every students will need to have the consent signed every year.

It is important for students and parents to be aware of the policy, but confinement is not likely to be used without parental consent.