DOJ found the Special School District of St. Louis County violated Title II of the ADA by routinely secluding over 300 students nearly 4,000 times and restraining nearly 150 students over 770 times across two school years — including one student restrained 372 times for nearly 35 hours — proposing a settlement agreement requiring total ban on seclusion and significant restraint reforms.

Special School District of St. Louis County — Systematic Seclusion and Restraint Violations Against Students with Disabilities (2023–2025)

Outcome: Following a 21-month investigation, the DOJ found that the Special School District of St. Louis County violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by routinely and unjustifiably secluding and physically restraining students with disabilities at a massive scale — secluding over 300 students nearly 4,000 times and restraining nearly 150 students more than 770 times across two school years — including one student who was restrained 372 times for a cumulative total of almost 35 hours.

The Special School District of St. Louis County (SSD) provides special education services to students with disabilities across the St. Louis County area, operating as a separate governmental entity from the many municipal school districts it serves. Following a 21-month investigation, DOJ's Civil Rights Division announced its findings in February 2026.

The scale of documented violations was extraordinary. During the two-year period reviewed, the District secluded more than 300 students approximately 4,000 times and physically restrained approximately 150 students more than 770 times. Within those numbers were documented abuses at the individual level: one student was restrained 372 times over the period, for a cumulative total of nearly 35 hours of physical restraint. More than 400 of the restraint incidents involved supine restraints — a technique involving holding a student face-up on the floor that carries heightened physical risk.

The DOJ found that many of the seclusionEvents were triggered by minor behavioral infractions that did not come close to justifying isolation — including a student being secluded for knocking over a teacher's coffee, another for refusing to go to music class, and others for being "disrespectful." The District also routinely used seclusion when students engaged in self-harm, a situation where the appropriate response is therapeutic intervention, not isolation.

DOJ proposed a settlement agreement requiring the District to: ban seclusion entirely; end the use of supine restraints; limit all physical restraints to situations involving imminent physical danger; adopt stronger reporting requirements and oversight mechanisms; expand positive behavioral support programs; and provide compensatory educational and counseling services to students who were subjected to the practices to address physical harm, psychological harm, and lost educational time.

Primary Source: Justice Department Finds the Special School District of St. Louis's Seclusion and Restraint Practices Discriminate Against Students with Disabilities | DOJ