Transcript Discipline Protections

DISCIPLINE PROCEDURES
For Special Education Students
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR
SPECIAL EDUCATION PROTECTIONS?
A student who has been identified and
determined eligible
 A student who is in the process of evaluation
prior to disciplinary action
 A student that the district knew or should have
known was a child with a disability

To Get The Conversation Started…
For each individual student and each specific
situation, the required disciplinary procedures
may be different.
 It is extremely important to examine each
disciplinary situation as unique and carefully
analyze the behavior that is subject to
disciplinary action.


SC State Regulations (Dec. 4, 2008)
REGARDING STUDENT SPECIAL
EDUCATION SERVICES…
The student’s current setting is assumed to be
appropriate and necessary for continued
achievement
 If problem behaviors develop into a “pattern of
behavior”, the IEP team needs to address these
behaviors proactively

Create or change the behavior plan
 Change or increase services

When problem behaviors are addressed
reactively (disciplinary actions), the student’s
needed services are almost always affected
 The district’s focus should be on prevention

SHORT-TERM VS LONG-TERM REMOVALS
IDEA recognizes there must be a balance between
IDEA guarantee of appropriate services, and
 Administrators/teachers need to maintain discipline
and order in school settings

Short-term actions are available so
administration can take action quickly and with
little complication – You’ve got 10 days!!!
 After 10-days, things get more complicated

WHEN A STUDENT WITH A
DISABILITY VIOLATES CODE OF
CONDUCT…
A review of the student’s behavior records indicates
that disciplinary action for THIS violation will
either:
 Not exceed10 consecutive or cumulative days
removal (short-term)
 Exceeds 10 days removal (long-term), or
 Exceed 10 days removal, but does not constitute
a pattern of behavior/change of placement
(something in-between)
SHORT-TERM REMOVALS
For consecutive or cumulative removal of up to 10
days, IDEA does not include right to
manifestation determination, IEP review, or to
educational services during removal, as long as:
The student has violated the code of conduct
 The student is treated the same as a student without
a disability

SHORT-TERM REMOVALS
Students with disabilities may be suspended for
more than 10 cumulative days if “no change of
placement” is established for the behavior in
question
Our school lawyers have said that, practically
speaking, principals may have another 3 to 5
days, at the most, to extend short-term
removals if the behavior is different from
previous problem behaviors.
DETERMINING A
CHANGE OF PLACEMENT
School officials can conclude that there IS NOT a
change of placement in any of 3 ways:
1. “This is not a change of placement because the
total number of days is 10 or less.” (We knew that!)
2. “This is not a change of placement because the
student’s earlier behavior (s) that led to removal
is not similar.”
3. “After analyzing the additional factors of length
of each removal, the total amount of time and the
proximity of the removals to one another, I have
concluded there is no cessation of services and it
is not a change of placement.”
LONG-TERM REMOVALS

If student is determined to have committed
offense that violates school code of conduct that
will result in a removal that exceeds 10 days…
Notify parents of the decision to take disciplinary
action and give them a copy of their IDEA rights
 Schedule a Manifestation Determination Meeting
within 10 days


Immediately contact your school psychologist to
determine who will set up the meeting
MANIFESTATION DETERMINATION
Manifestations are triggered by single behavior
infractions and that is the behavior that must be
manifested.
 The manifestation determination meeting
includes a review of previous infractions, but

those behaviors (and any future behaviors) are
not the subject of the manifestation.
MANIFESTATION DETERMINATION
Meeting is held with district, parent, and
relevant members of IEP team within 10 days of
the decision to remove the student/change the
student’s placement
 The team reviews all relevant information in
student’s file, IEP, behavior plan, teacher
observations, and relevant information from
parents.


The form will guide the team through this
MANIFESTATION DETERMINATION
The behavior is a manifestation if:
 The behavior was caused by, or had a direct &
substantial relationship to the child’s disability,
or
 The behavior was a direct result of the failure to
implement the IEP

IDEA-2004 no longer requires consideration of
whether:


IEP, services, & placement were appropriate
disability impaired the child’s ability to understand the
impact & consequences of behavior or to control the
behavior
IF BEHAVIOR IS A
MANIFESTATION…
The student must be returned to the
placement from which he/she was
removed, unless:

The parents and the school agree to the change of
placement as part of the modification of the BIP

Conduct FBA and write/review BIP



This option has been overused!
Teams need to work on the programs, not removing
students from their services!
Special circumstances exist (specified by IDEA)
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Principals can unilaterally remove a student to
an IAES (Interim Alternative Educational
Setting) for up to 45 days regardless of whether
there is a causal relationship to the student’s
disability if the student:




.
Carried or possessed a gun or dangerous weapon
Knowingly possessed or used illegal drugs
Sold or solicited a controlled substance
Inflicted serious bodily injury on another at school,
on school premises, or at school function
IF BEHAVIOR IS NOT A
MANIFESTATION…
The student may be disciplined, suspended, or
expelled the same as a student without a
disability, except that the student must continue
to receive FAPE for any removal of more than 10
days
 The IEP team can also make changes to the
student’s program or IEP in response. They
don’t have to discipline the student in the
standard way!

WHAT PROACTIVE STEPS WILL HELP?
Keep track of how many days of out-ofschool suspension the student has
accumulated to date.
Partial days of more than 50% out of school
count as one-day of suspension.
 In-school suspension and after-school
detention do not constitute a change in
placement as long as the student has access
to services and FAPE.

WHAT PROACTIVE STEPS WILL HELP?
 When
the student has accumulated more
than 5 days of suspension, consider
involving the IEP to take proactive
measures to address the pattern of
behavior:




Conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment
(FBA) and
A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) written
based on the results of the FBA.
Consider adding behavioral goals to the IEP
Consider the need for programming
modifications
WHAT PROACTIVE STEPS WILL HELP?
 The
IEP team needs to offer the
administration
consideration BEFORE things get too far
along, and
 Viable, workable, creative instruction and/or
behavioral options

The idea must be to keep in school where
the programs and resources are!
REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN
THE PAST…
Students cannot be unilaterally removed by the school
administration for up to 45 days for lesser infractions
than guns, drugs, serious bodily harm
 There is no other “45 day” option
 The option for parents and the school to agree to a
“change of placement” shouldn’t be overused
 Manifestation determinations are only scheduled in
response to specific behavioral instances that occur.
They cannot be held in “anticipation” of future
behaviors.

REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN
THE PAST…
AES IS NOT:
 a special education placement option for “specially
designed instruction”
 an alternative program at the Flex Center
 A replacement for an appropriate alternative
program
 Was never intended to replace or even equal the
resources and programs that are in or can be
developed in the schools
AES is continuation of FAPE required by disciplinary
actions taken by the school or district.
(Continuation of Services)
REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN
THE PAST…

Teams must develop or update Positive Behavior
Intervention Plans (BIPS) to be effective – in any
setting. Plans should include strategies for:
Preventing – How will we change the situations that seem
to be associated with the problem behavior?
 Teaching – What other behavior or skill will be taught
that will meet the student’s purpose in a more acceptable
way?
 Reacting – How will adults react when the behavior occurs
in a way that does not “feed into” the child’s purpose, cause
greater upset or stress, or punish the child?

PLANS SHOULD INCLUDE STRATEGIES FOR:

Using the Plan – What arrangement are needed to make
follow-through of the plan occur? What is the timeline?
Who has to be involved? How ill progress be measured?