School restraint docs exempt

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A school district in Vermont is not required to release documents pertaining to the use of student restraint and seclusion in its schools, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled, overturning a lower court’s decision in favor of the school board member seeking the information. The state’s high court likened the Rule 4500 forms – which are filled out when staff must physically restrain or seclude students – to student disciplinary records and ruled that they are categorically exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act.