LETTER: Harwood proves schools can end seclusion and reduce restraint

December 24, 2025 | By Brian Dalla Mura

To the Community: 

Praise for Harwood Union Unified School District is overdue. For three years in a row, the district has reduced its use of physical restraints and eliminated seclusion, demonstrating that this progress is not temporary, but sustained.

In the first two months of the 2021 school year, Harwood recorded 32 physical restraints and 18 seclusions. At the October 22 board meeting this year, the superintendent shared updated data showing just three restraints and zero seclusions in the first two months of this school year. That direct comparison highlights how far the district has come.

This did not happen by chance. Harwood made deliberate changes in practice and culture that led to three consecutive years of declining restraint numbers and the complete elimination of seclusion. At a time when many districts claim these practices are unavoidable, Harwood has proven they are not.

This sustained progress matters beyond Vermont. As Congress reintroduces the Keeping All Students Safe Act and as the public learns of the disturbing seclusion practices recently exposed in the Salmon River Central School District in upstate New York, Harwood stands as a clear and credible example of what is possible.

When opponents of reform ask, “If not restraint or seclusion, then what?” the answer is no longer theoretical. Ask Harwood. Their results show that restraint and seclusion are not inevitable, and that other districts can and should follow Harwood’s lead.

Brian Dalla Mura

Duxbury