{"data":{"id":"us-ar/ark.-code-ann.-6-18-2401","jurisdiction":"us-ar","citation":"Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-2401","heading":"Legislative findings","body":"The General Assembly finds that: (1) It is the responsibility of each school district in Arkansas to ensure the safety of all students and school personnel; (2) It is the responsibility of each school district in Arkansas to ensure that every student in Arkansas is safe and protected from being unnecessarily or inappropriately restrained; (3) Safe, effective, evidence-based strategies should be the basis for protocols in public schools and educational settings to support every student who displays challenging behavior in a public school or educational setting; (4) Providing school personnel with training that is focused on evidence-based positive behavioral support, de-escalation techniques, and physical restraint prevention can reduce the incidence of injury, trauma, and death; (5) The effective implementation of school-wide positive behavioral support is linked to greater academic achievement, significantly fewer disciplinary problems, increased instruction time, and the perception of a safer teaching environment by school personnel; (6) Positive behavioral support involves school-wide approaches that result in: (A) Positive classroom and school climates; (B) Prosocial student and school personnel interactions; (C) Teaching a student academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills; and (D) Reinforcing the academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills of a student; (7) The use of effective positive behavioral support in public schools and educational settings can prevent an emergency situation that requires the use of physical restraint on a student; and (8) Every effort should be made to: (A) Prevent the need for secluding a student or using a physical restraint on a student; (B) Ensure that behavioral intervention is consistent with the right of a student to be free from abuse and treated with dignity; (C) Avoid the use of physical restraint on a student to the greatest extent possible without endangering the safety of other students and school personnel; (D) Avoid the use of a physical restraint on a student except in a situation where the behavior of the student poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others; (E) Discontinue the use of a physical restraint on a student as soon as the imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others dissipates; and (F) Refrain from using chemical restraint or mechanical restraint in a public school or educational setting. Added by Act 2021, No. 1084,§ 1, eff. 7/28/2021.\n\nThe General Assembly finds that:\n\n(1) It is the responsibility of each school district in Arkansas to ensure the safety of all students and school personnel;\n\n(2) It is the responsibility of each school district in Arkansas to ensure that every student in Arkansas is safe and protected from being unnecessarily or inappropriately restrained;\n\n(3) Safe, effective, evidence-based strategies should be the basis for protocols in public schools and educational settings to support every student who displays challenging behavior in a public school or educational setting;\n\n(4) Providing school personnel with training that is focused on evidence-based positive behavioral support, de-escalation techniques, and physical restraint prevention can reduce the incidence of injury, trauma, and death;\n\n(5) The effective implementation of school-wide positive behavioral support is linked to greater academic achievement, significantly fewer disciplinary problems, increased instruction time, and the perception of a safer teaching environment by school personnel;\nve behavioral support, de-escalation techniques, and physical restraint prevention can reduce the incidence of injury, trauma, and death;\n\n(5) The effective implementation of school-wide positive behavioral support is linked to greater academic achievement, significantly fewer disciplinary problems, increased instruction time, and the perception of a safer teaching environment by school personnel;\n\n(6) Positive behavioral support involves school-wide approaches that result in: (A) Positive classroom and school climates; (B) Prosocial student and school personnel interactions; (C) Teaching a student academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills; and (D) Reinforcing the academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills of a student;\n\n(A) Positive classroom and school climates;\n\n(B) Prosocial student and school personnel interactions;\n\n(C) Teaching a student academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills; and\n\n(D) Reinforcing the academic, social, emotional, behavioral engagement, and achievement skills of a student;\n\n(7) The use of effective positive behavioral support in public schools and educational settings can prevent an emergency situation that requires the use of physical restraint on a student; and\n\n(8) Every effort should be made to: (A) Prevent the need for secluding a student or using a physical restraint on a student; (B) Ensure that behavioral intervention is consistent with the right of a student to be free from abuse and treated with dignity; (C) Avoid the use of physical restraint on a student to the greatest extent possible without endangering the safety of other students and school personnel; (D) Avoid the use of a physical restraint on a student except in a situation where the behavior of the student poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others; (E) Discontinue the use of a physical restraint on a student as soon as the imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others dissipates; and (F) Refrain from using chemical restraint or mechanical restraint in a public school or educational setting.\n\n(A) Prevent the need for secluding a student or using a physical restraint on a student;\n\n(B) Ensure that behavioral intervention is consistent with the right of a student to be free from abuse and treated with dignity;\n\n(C) Avoid the use of physical restraint on a student to the greatest extent possible without endangering the safety of other students and school personnel;\n\n(D) Avoid the use of a physical restraint on a student except in a situation where the behavior of the student poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others;\n\n(E) Discontinue the use of a physical restraint on a student as soon as the imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or others dissipates; and\n\n(F) Refrain from using chemical restraint or mechanical restraint in a public school or educational setting.","path":["AR Code","Title 6","Chapter 18","Subchapter 24"],"source_url":"https://oss-data-us.vaquill.ai/v2026.08/us_ar_statutes.parquet","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:41Z","sha256":"168e32a778b0f204ce74b1571ea809c7c1e2ff7d8296b1812365b168162e7711","source_id":"us-ar","stale":false,"prev":"us-ar/ark.-code-ann.-6-18-2308","next":"us-ar/ark.-code-ann.-6-18-2402"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}