OAKLAND — The U.S. Department of Education ruled the Oakland school district discriminated against a 9-year-old autistic boy who was restrained 92 times during one school year, sometimes for up to 90 minutes at a time, according to an announcement Tuesday.

Stuart Candell attended Anova Center for Education in Concord from April 2013 to February 2014. Two to three adults held him face down for a total of 2,200 minutes, or more than 36 hours, during his tenure at the school for high-functioning autistic kids. He was also secluded in a 12-foot-by-10-foot windowless room, according to the federal Office for Civil Rights decision in June.

In a settlement, the Oakland Unified School District must: sever all contracts with schools that use such prone restraints, and develop a way to monitor such practices and hire an expert to teach staff positive behavior interventions, according to Disability Rights California, which represented the Candell family in its federal claim against the district.

Education officials said restraint and seclusion should only be used in emergency situations to protect the health of the student or others.

“I am thrilled with OCR’s decision,” said Stuart’s mother, Bonnie Candell, of Oakland. “I saw how being restrained negatively affected my son, causing him to cry and have suicidal thoughts. I am happy that other Oakland kids will not have to go through what my son did.”

Anova Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement late Tuesday, the Oakland school district reacted to the settlement.

“It is Oakland Unified School District’s highest priority to provide safe learning environments for all students,” the statement said. “…OUSD is actively complying with the terms of the resolution, which OUSD and OCR believe will positively impact OUSD’s students with special needs who are placed in non-public schools.”

Stuart was sent to the Concord school after having trouble at other campuses due to behavior issues. Stuart is small in stature and intellectually gifted, with a verbal IQ of 142 and a perceptual reasoning IQ of 135, according to the findings of the federal Office for Civil Rights.

Within two hours on his first day at the Concord school, Stuart was placed on prone — face down — restraint, according to the federal report. It only got worse.

Incident reports documenting the school’s response to Stuart’s behavior revealed situations that did not appear to be imminent health and safety emergencies:

Restrained for 45 minutes after Stuart ran into his classroom screaming after stepping in dog poop.

Restrained for 45 minutes for throwing a chair; later restrained twice for 15 minutes after expressing frustration over Uno card game.