JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska House committee heard emotional testimony Wednesday from a parent who says her son was once kept in a locked closet by an Anchorage school.
“He would beg me not to send him to school,” Starr Marsett told the House Education Committee on Wednesday. “I didn’t learn until later that they were placing him in a janitorial closet that locked from the outside, all done without my approval.” She did not identify the school.
The committee is considering HB210, from Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, which would require schools to notify parents within 24 hours if a child is restrained or placed in seclusion.
The bill also would allow a school employee, such as a nurse, to administer prescribed psychiatric medication to a student. Administering medication would require parental consent.
Rep. Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell, said many of the smaller villages do not have a licensed health provider available who could administer psychiatric medications as required under the bill.
The bill would cover private and public schools. But state education Commissioner Mike Hanley told the committee his department has no way of monitoring private schools on this matter.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Friday.
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