Teachers and staff at Anoka-Hennepin elementary schools will begin using blocking pads to deescalate situations when students turn violent.
Anoka-Hennepin Schools confirmed that the district’s administration decided earlier this year to implement Ukeru Training Systems at the elementary level. A crisis management system designed to promote safety, Ukeru utilizes restraint-free intervention techniques to deal with individuals experiencing behavioral or mental health challenges.
Among its methods, Ukeru utilizes padded blocking mats to abate individuals who turn violent rather than using physical restraints or seclusion. At Anoka-Hennepin Schools, staff will now be instructed to hold up the mat if a child begins experiencing behavioral issues and physically acting out.
“The purpose is to keep students and staff safe,” Jim Skelly, executive director of public relations for the district, wrote in an email to Alpha News.
“Mats are never used with force and staff are only able to block objects or physical aggression and are not able to push back,” said Skelly. “Mats are not used to move students from one place to another.”
Skelly told Alpha News that students will receive an orientation process which includes an introduction to the mats through a “social story and by using Ukeru mats as a calming tool.” Additionally, the families of those students are informed of the “intent and purpose of the Ukeru mats,” and the families will be alerted if a mat is ever used.
Ukeru is a Japanese word meaning “to receive.” The system is restraint free and “based on receiving information communicated through someone’s actions,” according to the company’s website.
Skelly said the system “is intended to reduce physical contact and resolve situations in a safer way.” The spokesperson also said the training teachers receive is a “full-day training focused on brain development and how to support dysregulated students in a safe way for everyone involved.”
Sara Ross, a former police officer and first grade teacher at University Avenue Elementary School in Blaine, said the mats remind her of riot gear used in police training.
During a professional development session last month, Ross said teachers at University Avenue Elementary were informed they would be required to be trained with the mats.
Ross believes the district implemented the system because students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) are being mainstreamed with general education students, and students with EBD can be violent. Since teachers and staff are banned from using physical restraint or seclusion against violent students, the district is providing mats so teachers can protect themselves and other students.
“In the past couple of years, I’ve been bitten. I’ve been hit. Kids throw computers. They do whatever. There’s no accountability,” said Ross. “We got rid of discipline. I’ve had a student lunge at me telling me he’s going to kill me or he hates me. We’re told to leave the student in the classroom and use these mats. No responsibility on the part of the student. If a kid’s running around our classroom, we are supposed to just ignore them. They think all the other students will ignore them, too. It’s laughable.”
Ross said she doesn’t believe parents are aware of the blocking mats and thinks they would not approve if they were.
“No parent would want to come to their elementary school child’s class and see a teacher having to protect herself or others using a mat,” she said.
Prior to this year, students who were a danger to themselves or others would be sent to a locked quiet room or restrained until they maintained control, Ross told Alpha News.
“I want to know who decided this,” said Ross. “I can’t imagine it’s going to be cheap to buy mats for all teachers and put them all through training. That’s asinine to me. Who thought in their right mind that this would be okay as an element in any classroom? The district is not in the business, nor do they care about protecting me or other students.”
Skelly confirmed the district spent $31,408 on the mats and $3,031 on the training. Additionally, the Anoka-Hennepin Schools spokesperson added that the “mats are not riot gear and do not resemble riot gear.”
Ross said she doesn’t know what consequences she will face for speaking out and said she needs her job.
“I’m just a regular teacher collecting a paycheck but am willing to go on the record because it’s the truth,” Ross said. “What’s going on is sickening. People need to stand up.”
She said her colleagues agree with her but are too afraid to speak out.
“We need to start dealing with bad behavior, but consequence and discipline are bad words in education nowadays,” Ross said.
Sheila Qualls
Sheila Qualls is an award-winning journalist and former civilian editor of an Army newspaper. Prior to joining Alpha News, she was a Christian Marriage and Family columnist at Patheos.com and a personal coach. Her work has been published in The Upper Room, the MOPS blog, Grown and Flown, and The Christian Post. She speaks nationally on issues involving faith and family.
