Policy 7:230

Students

Misconduct By Students With Disabilities

Behavioral Interventions

Behavioral interventions shall be used with students with disabilities to promote and strengthen desirable behaviors and reduce identified inappropriate behaviors. The District will establish and maintain a committee to develop, implement, and monitor procedures on the use of behavioral interventions for children with disabilities. The committee shall review and consider the State Board of Education’s guidelines on the use of behavioral interventions and use them as a non-binding reference. This policy and the behavioral intervention procedures shall be furnished to the parent(s)/guardian(s) of all students with individual education plans within 15 calendar days after their adoption or amendment by, or presentation to, the Board or at the time an individual education plan is first implemented for a student; all students shall be informed annually of the existence of this policy and the procedures. At the annual individualized education plan review, a copy of this policy shall be given to the parent(s)/guardian(s). The policy and procedures shall be explained. A copy of the procedures shall be available, upon request of the parent(s)/guardian(s).

Discipline of Special Education Students

The District shall comply with the provisions of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) when disciplining students. No special education student shall be expelled if the student’s particular act of gross disobedience or misconduct is a manifestation of his or her disability. Any special education student whose gross disobedience or misconduct is not a manifestation of his or her disability may be expelled pursuant to the expulsion procedures, except that such disabled student shall continue to receive educational services as provided in the IDEA during such period of expulsion.

A special education student may be suspended for periods of no more than 10 consecutive school days each in response to separate incidents of misconduct, regardless of whether the student’s gross disobedience or misconduct is a manifestation of his or her disabling condition, as long as the repeated removals do not constitute a pattern that amounts to a change in placement (considering factors such as the length of each removal, the total amount of time the student is removed, and the proximity of the removals to one another) and provided that such student receives educational services to the extent required by the IDEA during such removals.

Any special education student may be temporarily excluded from school by court order or by order of a duly appointed State of Illinois hearing officer changing the student’s placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting for up to 45 calendar days, or longer as ruled necessary, if the District demonstrates that maintaining the student in his or her current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the student or others.

A special education student who has carried a weapon to school or to a school function or who knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs or sells or solicits the sale of a controlled substance while at school or a school function may be removed from his or her current placement. Such a student shall be placed in an appropriate interim alternative educational setting for no more than 45 calendar days, or longer as ruled necessary, in accordance with the IDEA. The length of time a student with a disability is placed in an alternative educational setting must be the same amount of time that a student without disability would be subject to discipline.

Adopted: April 6, 1998
Revised: February 18, 2003