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Slide 1: Professional Perspective; Administration; Suspending Special Education Students

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Slide 1: Professional Perspective; Administration; Suspending Special Education Students

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Field of Education: Educational Leadership
Audience: The audience for my legal guide is administration at upper levels who are in charge of deciding if suspension is the correct, legal, and ethical choice.
Topic: Suspension of Special Education Students
Professional Perspective: My professional perspective is that students should not be suspended from school; instead, discipline should be handled differently.
Consideration of topic: I chose this topic because I believe that students who are punished by suspension are, in fact, not being punished at all.

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1. I chose to interview two different people, an assistant principal and a special education coordinator who knows the laws surrounding special education the best. The topic is important in Educational Leadership because suspension from school happens quite often, and as a future administrator,  I will need to know the laws to help inform my decisions about whether or not a student qualifies (based on specific labeling) and whether or not the 'punishment fits the crime.' Also, knowing the laws to protect myself, my campus, and the student are important when making tough decisions.

2. The best practices to follow, for special education students, are:
-get a FBA (functional behavior assessment) for the student who is struggling with behavior. The FBA's must be done once a year, and, if they haven't had one, must be done before the student has out of placement suspension. If there is no FBA on file, student must be observed and possibly given a BIP (behavior intervention plan) before suspension is allowed.
- hold an MDR (manifestation determination review) and get approvable before suspension or any out of placement determination is placed.
-determine if there are alternatives to suspension

3. An area emerging issues related to my topic are law based. The federal laws surrounding special education students are many and the students are protected, so administrators need to know and understand the law before seeking disciplinary action.

4. Interviewees are: Trudy Rollison, Assistant Principal at Andrews High School and Terry Kubena, Special Education Coordinator at Big Spring High School

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The School Superintendents Association provided an article about "School Discipline: Dismantle the Pre-K to Prison Pipeline," which discusses how punitive policies funnels students into a life associated with crime. The article states, "suspensions and expulsions often disengage and disconnect students from school, feed students into juvenile systems and criminalize children at increasingly younger ages: instigating a Cradle to Prison Pipeline." The posting also provides case studies that prove that punitive means does not have to involve suspension and expulsion.

Joffe, B. (2019). American Association of School Administrators. AASA. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.aasa.org/schooldiscipline.aspx

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Slide 4: Article 1 "Biden Warns Schools Not to Overpunish Students with Disabilities"

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Slide 4: Article 1 "Biden Warns Schools Not to Overpunish Students with Disabilities"

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In July, President Biden released new school discipline guides to cut back on the rates of schools expelling and suspending students.

These guidelines are to lessen the increasing frequency of students being disciplined in an out of placement setting.

Students with disabilities may not be punished for an offense that is a manifestation of their disability.

George, D. S. (2022, July 19). Biden warns schools not to overpunish students with disabilities. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/19/school-discipline-special-ed-biden/

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Slide 5: Article "In-School Suspension and IDEA Law"

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Slide 5: Article "In-School Suspension and IDEA Law"

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This article discusses and outlines the limits on suspensions and in-school suspensions.

The federal law states, "the primary vehicle for providing a FAPE (free appropriate public education) is through an appropriately developed individualized education program that is based on the individual needs of the child." Which means that, if a behavior is deemed to manifest from the disability then instead of disciplinary action, students will need to have a positive behavior provision in the IEP.

The article states that after the 10-day limit of FAPE, there is a daily ARD to determine when the student will be removed from alternate placement.

Logsdon, A. (2021, February 17). Does in-school suspension affect students in special education? Verywell Family. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/iss-and-idea-law-2162067

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Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004).

https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statuteregulations/#:~:text=The%20Individuals%20with%20Disabilities%20Education,education%2C%20and%20other%20nonprofit%20organization

This act, passed in 1965, details that every student, regardless of a mental or physical handicap, is granted the right to a free and appropriate public education.

The act requires that each public school provide services to eligible special education students in the least restrictive environment

Also, the act states that the least restrictive environment will be based on a student's individualized education program (IEP).

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Slide 7: Administrative Law: Americans with Disabilities Act

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Slide 7: Administrative Law: Americans with Disabilities Act

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Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328 (1990).

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability/ada#:~:text=The%20Americans%20with%20Disabilities%20Act,local%20government'%20programs%20and%20services.

This law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Education enforces Title II of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal funding from the department.

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G.L. v. Ligonier Valley School District Authority, No. 14-1397 (3rd Cir. 2015)

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-3rd-circuit/1713560.html

This case clarified how to interpret IDEA's two-year statute of limitations on FAPE.

The court ruled that IDEA's statute of limitations creates a "discovery rule" approach which means that the statute begins to run on the day the parents should have known of the violation of FAPE.

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Slide 9: Constitutional Law: 14th Amendment

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Slide 9: Constitutional Law: 14th Amendment

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U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 2.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/#:~:text=No%20State%20shall%20make%20or,equal%20protection%20of%20the%20laws.

This constitutional law declares that all public schools are required to provide all students, with and without disabilities, a Free and Appropriate Public Education.

It also prohibits the discrimination of students with disabilities

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§89.1052 Discretionary Placements in Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs
(JJAEP)

http://txrules.elaws.us/rule/title19_chapter89_sec.89.1052

This Texas law applies only to the expulsion of a student with disabilities.

It discusses how students may be placed in a Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program

The law also outlines how students need to be processed before being expelled from the school and then subsequently placed in the JJAEP program.

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19 Tex. Admin. Code § 247.2 (2016)

Standard 3.4. The educator shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, family status, or sexual orientation.

This standard applies because no student can be excluded from school based on any kind of discriminatory aspect. The disability of a student does not exclude them from free appropriate public education, and this ethical standard backs up the law.

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The personal connection I have with this topic is my mother and family growing up. My mom has worked as a special education coordinator for 25 years, and she has had instances of dealing with situations like this. I believe that all students deserve chances and many special education students, whose behavior can cause issues, deserve to get the same education as their peers. The issues of suspension and special education intrigues me because suspension is punitive, whereas other options could help change behavior.

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The best practices for determining if a special education student is to be suspended are:

holding a manifestation determination review and decided if the behavior is an exhibit from the disability

reviewing BIP, FBA, and IEP's to determine if there has been a plan in place to counteract the behavior

ensuring the out of placement determination does not infringe upon the FAPE rules of ten days