A California case from last year illustrates how important it is to evaluate a student in the area of behavior when the circumstances warrant.  There is a federal regulation that mandates an FBA (Functional Behavioral Assessment) under certain circumstances, but an FBA is a good idea at other times as well.  In other words, don’t wait until you have to do an FBA—do one when you should.

And when should you? Well…of course that’s an individualized judgment call, but this case reminds us that your judgment calls are subject to second guessing by hearing officers and judges.

The case involved a kindergarten student who was exhibiting enough problematic behaviors to justify an SST meeting (Student Support Team) in mid-September.  Reviewing all of the information and considering that the student was very young and getting adjusted to school, the team decided not to make a referral for special education testing. However, they did create a behavior contract for the student.

By the following February the district concluded it was time to refer for testing.  Although the school did not conduct an FBA it did conduct evaluations sufficient to classify the student as having an emotional disturbance, and to support various behavioral interventions in the IEP. It’s hard to see what an FBA would have accomplished that the existing evaluations did not.  Nevertheless, the court held that the district failed to conduct a full, individual, initial evaluation by failing to do an FBA. The case is E.S. v. Conejo Valley USD, decided by the federal court for the Southern District of California on July 27, 2018. We found it at 72 IDELR 180.

In the Toolbox training we offer a full day review of special education discipline regulations and the ten “tools” that schools can use to maintain safety and order while serving each child.  In the Toolbox we put much emphasis on the importance of good solid evaluations to support your decisions.  If that sounds interesting to you, let me hear from you!

DAWG BONE: LOTS OF ROOM FOR SECOND GUESSING IN SPECIAL EDUCATION DECISION MAKING.

Tomorrow: Are we going to get a SCOTUS case on prayer at board meetings?