In the Toolbox training, we provide a full day for campus administrators and special education staff, focusing on serving students with disabilities in conformity with the law.  One of the “tools” in the Toolbox involves “special circumstances.”  When you have a “special circumstances” case, the administrator is authorized to order a removal of the student from the IEP placement for up to 45 school days.  We call this Tool #5.  Possession of a controlled substance at school would, indeed, be a “special circumstance.”

But when the principal uses Tool #5 to order a removal, he or she has some other things to do as well. First, you need to have an ARD Committee meeting.  The ARDC will need to determine exactly where and how the student will be served. The law gives the principal the authority to order removal to an “interim alternative educational setting” (IAES) but it leaves to the ARDC the decision of exactly what that IAES will be.

Second, the principal should make sure that the ARDC considers what should be done to prevent a recurrence of this behavior.  The regulations tell us that when the principal orders a “special circumstances” removal, the student must:

Receive, as appropriate, a functional behavioral assessment, and behavioral intervention services and modifications that are designed to address the behavior violation so that it does not recur.  34 CFR 300.530(d)(1)(ii).

So don’t use Tool #5 without also picking up Tool #1—the development of a behavior plan, or at least some kind of services designed to address the behavior. The last few words in that regulation are important: “so that it does not recur.”

DAWG BONE: TOOL #5 IS HANDY, BUT SHOULD LEAD TO USE OF OTHER TOOLS AS WELL

 File this one under: SPECIAL EDUCATION DISCIPLINE

Tomorrow: Can a sub who was fired after one day on the job file suit? Yes!  America!!