Prohibits the use of timeout boxes, closets or other secluded physical enclosures for children in schools in the state except for authorized uses prescribed by the commissioner.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10560
IN SENATE
May 21, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. STEC -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to limiting the use of
timeout boxes, closets or other secluded physical enclosures in
schools in the state
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 116 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 116. Prohibitions on timeout boxes in schools. 1. The use of timeout
4 boxes, closets or other secluded physical enclosures for the isolation
5 of children are prohibited in schools in the state, except for the
6 authorized limited use of timeout and physical restraint as prescribed
7 in the commissioner's regulations.
8 2. For purposes of this section:
9 (a) "Timeout box" shall include, but not be limited to, a wooden or
10 padded room or structure where a child is isolated.
11 (b) "School" means a public school district, board of cooperative
12 educational services, charter school, state-operated and state-supported
13 school pursuant to articles eighty-five, eighty-seven and eighty-eight
14 of this chapter, in-state and out-of-state private residential or non-
15 residential school for the education of students with disabilities
16 approved pursuant to article eighty-nine of this chapter or operating
17 under article eighty-one of this chapter, state-administered prekinder-
18 garten program directly operated by a school district, board of cooper-
19 ative educational services, or an eligible agency, as defined in 8 NYCRR
20 151-1.2 (b), or operated by a school district in collaboration with an
21 eligible agency, preschool special education program approved pursuant
22 to section four thousand four hundred ten of this chapter, and regis-
23 tered nonpublic nursery school, kindergarten, and high school, and a
24 nonpublic school serving grades one through eight that has a registered
25 high school, in this state.
26 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15984-01-6
