Wnited States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 May 17, 2018 ‘The Honorable Kathleen Tighe U.S, Department of Education Office of Inspector General 550 12th Street, 8.W. Washington, D.C. 20202 Dear Inspector General Tighe, We are writing today to respectfully request that the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General investigate systemic misreporting of restraint and seclusion by school districts. Every two years, the U.S. Department of Education’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) collects data from public schools regarding their use of restraint and seclusion. Last November, it was brought, to our attention that the Cedar Rapids Community School District was violating federal reporting requirements regarding the use of seclusion and restraint. For the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years, the school district’s records indicate that they had 1,400 instances of seclusion and restraint. However, they reported 0 instances of seclusion and restraint to the federal government for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years. The Cedar Rapids Community School District has also underreported seclusion and restraint data to the federal government for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years. ‘There is evidence to suggest that this is a systemic problem. For example, a Politico report published on November 29, 2017 discusses similar instances of misreporting around the country.* In addition to citing numerous examples of false reporting, the report includes a statement from Sunil Mansukhani, a Department of Education employee who helped administer the survey from 2009 to 2012. Mr. Mansukhani stated that it was “very clear that a lot of districts were underreporting.” In November, our staffs contacted your office asking you to investigate this matter. Your office recently informed us that the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is looking into these allegations, and that you will consider a broader inspection of systemic issues related to reporting and data quality in your planning for upcoming FY 2019 audit work. We look forward to the conclusion of OCR’s investigation regarding the specific allegations my office raised, and we hope to see more accurate reporting from school districts throughout the state of Iowa. However, given the impact of such matters on children in the classroom, and in particular, children with disabilities, we request that OIG performs its own investigation of erroneous reporting of restraint and seclusion, as this appears to be a systemic problem. ‘Ben Hattem, “How Washington Winks at Violent Discipline of Special Needs Kids,” Politico, November 29, 2017.Sincerely, JoniKEmst Charles E. Grassley United States Senator United States Senator