Seclusion room use down ‘significantly’ across Edmonton Public Schools: board report
Posted May 27, 2026 8:47 am.
There are fewer seclusion rooms inside Edmonton Public Schools (EPSB) with each passing year.
The rooms are meant to be used in case a student is a danger to themselves or others.
This school year, there are 46 seclusion rooms inside 24 schools. That’s 72 per cent lower than the 2023-24 school year, which had 167 rooms at 80 schools.
With the drop in rooms also comes a larger drop in the number of times a seclusion room was used.
Between September 2025 and March 2026, there were 272 total instances with 79 students sent to one. It’s a noted decrease from the five-year high in 2023-24, with 1,581 uses by 640 students.
Board Chair Saadiq Sumar credits administration with lowering the number of seclusion rooms across the division but is not sure if it will reach zero.
“There’s no seclusion rooms in our interactions classrooms anymore. We’ve seen a significant reduction in seclusion rooms,” said Sumar. “We’re continuing to see good staff training and responsive to what our students and staff needs are in terms of making sure we keep everyone safe.”
The report also notes times physical restraint was used on a student. So far, 374 reports of physical restraint were recorded this school year involving 187 students.
Sumar points to extra training for staff. More than 3,000 staff members have completed a form of de-escalation training for responding to high-risk behaviour.
Grants from the province are also expected to help hire more support staff and teachers.
