I refuse to allow my 5 year old to have a suspension for his disability

[asalvagni]

Hi, I need help!

I have been pushing the school to add higher level accommodations and get my child the support he needs for the last 3 months or so. since then, All they keep saying is "we're gathering data". This has been more than enough time for them to gather data. A month ago I requested an FBA to be performed and to move him to Tier 3 supports because we were getting notes from school every day about his behaviors. He has a social-emotional developmental delay. I gave verbal consent a month ago, and have asked numerous times to receive a consent form for the FBA, and they dragged their feet and finally only supplied it to me to sign on 10/06 (8 days ago!!!)  They promised me they would start this FBA a month ago! For the last 3 months or so, the school is supposed to be doing everything they can to provide the adequate support and accommodations that he needs. If his behavior isn't improving, then that tells me that they AREN'T doing what they are supposed to be doing. 

Then yesterday, I get a call from the principal saying they are giving my son an in-school suspension. I told them they are proposing a disciplinary action on disabled child for behaviors that are a manifestation of his disability (he is showing agressive behaviors, and one of the hallmark symptoms of social-emotional delay is aggression!).  The ignorant principal literally said to me... "He has a diagnosis?" LOL! are you kidding me lady? You're making decisions about my child, and you have attended the last reevaluation meeting and you still don't know that my child has a formal diagnosis?!   My child has had an IEP since he was 3 years old!

I immediately requested a manifestation determination review (because I KNOW it's a manifestation of disability), and the Director of ESE services said that it's not required unless it's past 10 days of suspension. I said yes, but I know that I have the RIGHT to request one BEFORE 10 days of suspension under special circumstances. 

I told the school that my son will NOT be attending the in-school suspension, as his behaviors remaining the same clearly means they are NOT DOING THEIR JOB.  I plan to pick my son up from school at the time they proposed to put him in the ISS.

Are they even allowed under § 1415(k)(5)(D) to remove him from class and put him in an ISS while he is CURRENTLY under re-evaluation and an FBA? I mean the law says they have to keep the child in their current placement during the duration of an evaluation..Shouldn't this protect my son from suspensions whether in school or out of school? either way he is being displaced from the classroom during an evaluation process.

I have a strong suspicion as well that his IEP is not being followed to a T. 

My major question here is: Do I have the right to pick up my child every time they tell me they are going to do an in-school suspension to keep them from punishing him due to his disability?  They seem to want to reschedule it if i decide to pick him up instead, so i will be consistently having to pick him up to avoid this ISS every week.

Also, is the school required to give me notice of the day and time that they plan on giving the ISS? They cannot by law just sneak and do it behind my back, correct? Because I will pick him up from school every single time they try to pull this BS.

from Florida law 1002.20. K-12 student and parent rights.:

 

(a) Suspension of public school student.–In accordance with the provisions of s. 1006.09(1)-(4):

1. A student may be suspended only as provided by rule of the district school board. A good faith effort must be made to immediately inform the parent by telephone of the student's suspension and the reason. Each suspension and the reason must be reported in writing within 24 hours to the parent by United States mail. A good faith effort must be made to use parental assistance before suspension unless the situation requires immediate suspension. [...]

They did NOT provide notice in writing within 24 hours! I didn't get any notice in my son's backpack at all. Even if they sent it by mail, I would not receive it within 24 hours.

 

[Jgrubb]

Anytime the teacher is having a student move a clip, or whatever they do for discipline, there should be a discussion about the behavior.  The teacher should talk with the child about why the clip is being moved.  They should discuss the reason the behavior is bad.  They should discuss an alternate behavior.  
 

Our school uses a behavior monitoring chart for kids in behavioral RTI.  The teacher uses the sheet to list the undesirable behavior(s) and tallies the number of times the behavior(s) occurred that day.  If the accommodation(s) is/are working the number of tallies will decrease.  If the teacher makes notes about the behavior(s), he/she might also notice a pattern in the behavior(s).  Are the behaviors occurring at a certain time or when a certain thing happens?  If the teacher knows this, it might be easier to avoid and/or correct the problem behavior(s).

When your child displays the problem behavior(s) is he/she sent to a counselor?  Our school has a guidance counselor and another group who does counseling.  I believe at least one of them helps deal with problem behavior(s).  This person could also help with the IEP and a behavior plan.  I would think seeing a counselor should be done before a child is suspended.

 

[JSD24]

They are allowed to suspend a student for breaking school rules.  I think they can do this if this is a manifestation of their disability because a manifestation hearing isn't mandated until the suspension is longer than 3 days - might be different where you live.  IMHO, it's stupid to suspend a 5 year old child when you dragged your feet in coming up with the Permission to Evaluate for going home where it's months after the parent gave a verbal request for an FBA.  I'm in PA & our rule says the school has a "reasonable period of time" to get a parent this form when they request an eval.  Our law defines 'a reasonable period of time' as 10 days.  It looks like Florida might define this the same way:  https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/IDEACOVID.pdf

[JSD24]

(Second post because I hit ctrl enter and my post posted.)

I think you should file a state complaint that they dragged their feet too long with starting the FBA.  Do you have email showing when you requested the FBA?  Always good to have a papertrail in case stuff like this happens.

There is a saying in education:  If it's not in writing, it didn't happen.  I always suggest putting important things like this into an email - just in case.

Keep track of how long they are suspending him.  After 10 days, it's looked at as a 'change of placement' and for a kid with an IEP, the IEP team has to decide that.  IMO, your child's IEP isn't FAPE if he keeps having behavior issues at school where they are removing him from from his classroom.  If he's removed, he doesn't have access to his education and the school should be accommodating that.  Disabled kids get accommodations so they have access.

 

Don't ask for accommodations.  You want special instruction so he's taught to do better.  They can accommodate him along with teaching him but the teaching should be the main part they're doing.

[JanelleM]

I am not a professional advocate yet: but I am now training to be one because my son went through a similar situation and my blood boils for you! Yes they can do this and yes let it happen. I do not recommend picking him up unless they provide you documentation that this was an out of school suspension, I also recommend an an immediate iep meeting, because clearly his needs are being met. 

[JanelleM]

*not being met

[asalvagni]

Did I mention that he is 5 YEARS OLD?! Literally a baby.

Why wouldn't you recommend picking him up?  just won't let him get punished for their own lack of work. I'm just wondering If I can legally pick him up everytime they suspend him, and do they legally have to tell me beforehand when it will occur?

[JSD24]

ISS is relatively new so there isn't a lot of rules on it nor is there a lot of research.  As a parent, you can pick up your child at school (legally) whenever you see fit.  (This would be an unexcused absence in my district.)  If they end up missing too much school, truancy will kick in.  Truancy rules start when you register your child for public school - even if your state doesn't mandate school attendance until they are older.  ISS isn't always punishment in the eyes of the student.  You end up with a small group of students and they are able to do quiet work.  If they are trying to catch up on math & they have questions, the ISS teacher could provide 1:1 support they cannot get in a classroom with 24 other students.

The one thing I dislike about ISS or OSS is that (especially with a younger child) they learn quickly that doing XXX (behavior) gets them removed from their classroom.  If a child cannot read and does XXX when it's time to read aloud, they are now sanctioned by the school to avoid reading aloud because, all they need to do is XXX.  The school has given them a ticket to escape something they find hard & want to avoid.  The behavior gets disciplined but the upstream inability to read flies under the radar.

IMO, it is a reasonable request to know when your child is placed in ISS.  Not sure if it is reasonable to ask that your child be given OSS and not ISS when they are suspended.

I am curious how you are defining 'punishment'.  I found two definitions.  (1) the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.  (2) the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority.  Does your child find ISS as 'undesirable or unpleasant' or simply a 'penalty'?

[EmilyM]

I hate ISS. It's little more than a consequence trying to not inconvenience anyone. If the child in question is a danger to others in the classroom, they need to be removed in the moment, not have some vague consequence down the road. 

And, if the child is being a danger to others, something isn't right in the plans. Granted, of course there's a first time observing anything, but it means creating a new plan. 

The teacher in me hates the idea of parents getting their kids out of consequences (if your child was being aggressive, I'm sorry, but there needs to be an expectation that's not okay), and it's very difficult to get an IEP to trump school rules. I think you would be in your right to discuss alternate consequences (not removal of them) while a new plan is being worked up.

[JSD24]

On 10/16/2023 at 10:43 AM, EmilyM said:

I hate ISS. It's little more than a consequence trying to not inconvenience anyone. If the child in question is a danger to others in the classroom, they need to be removed in the moment, not have some vague consequence down the road. 

And, if the child is being a danger to others, something isn't right in the plans. Granted, of course there's a first time observing anything, but it means creating a new plan. 

The teacher in me hates the idea of parents getting their kids out of consequences (if your child was being aggressive, I'm sorry, but there needs to be an expectation that's not okay), and it's very difficult to get an IEP to trump school rules. I think you would be in your right to discuss alternate consequences (not removal of them) while a new plan is being worked up.

I'd like to see some research that shows that consequences teaches better behavior - especially when you're 5 and have an IEP.  I had read about a teacher who didn't do the required traffic light chart in their classroom.  Rather than a child moving their clip from green to yellow, they discussed what a better approach would be for next time.  The teacher ended up with better behaved students.  I've also seen where school districts have eliminated suspension in grades K-2.  I think Philly did this - except for things like weapons & drugs that there are state & federal laws about consequences.

I am for children learning to improve, to develop skills on how to deal with frustration and 'using their words' rather than misbehaving.  I don't feel that consequences teach that.  (It can with some children but not every child.)

[EmilyM]

4 hours ago, JSD24 said:

I'd like to see some research that shows that consequences teaches better behavior - especially when you're 5 and have an IEP.  I had read about a teacher who didn't do the required traffic light chart in their classroom.  Rather than a child moving their clip from green to yellow, they discussed what a better approach would be for next time.  The teacher ended up with better behaved students.  I've also seen where school districts have eliminated suspension in grades K-2.  I think Philly did this - except for things like weapons & drugs that there are state & federal laws about consequences.

I am for children learning to improve, to develop skills on how to deal with frustration and 'using their words' rather than misbehaving.  I don't feel that consequences teach that.  (It can with some children but not every child.)

That discussion that teacher had is still a consequence. How do you define the word?

The thing is, other students shouldn't be problematically impacted by another student, even one an IEP.

[Lisa Lightner]

I have written quite a bit about this, please look at the tips in these articles:

https://adayinourshoes.com/picking-up-kids-from-school/

and

https://adayinourshoes.com/child-suspended-from-school-iep/

[JSD24]

On 10/17/2023 at 4:10 PM, EmilyM said:

That discussion that teacher had is still a consequence. How do you define the word?

The thing is, other students shouldn't be problematically impacted by another student, even one an IEP.

Proactive consequence - not a punitive one.  I think the teacher did class discussions so it became a teachable moment.

Whenever there is misbehavior in a classroom, IMO, there is problematic impact to the class.  I think the philosophy the teacher had was to minimize these by turning them into teachable moments.  It boils down to self-regulation.  If students aren't approaching mastery of self-regulation, lessons will be interrupted.  (I'm not sure you can expect kids in K-2 to be 100% with self-reg but you can maximize their skills by teaching by example.)

[EmilyM]

3 hours ago, JSD24 said:

Proactive consequence - not a punitive one.  I think the teacher did class discussions so it became a teachable moment.

Whenever there is misbehavior in a classroom, IMO, there is problematic impact to the class.  I think the philosophy the teacher had was to minimize these by turning them into teachable moments.  It boils down to self-regulation.  If students aren't approaching mastery of self-regulation, lessons will be interrupted.  (I'm not sure you can expect kids in K-2 to be 100% with self-reg but you can maximize their skills by teaching by example.)

You're absolutely right, but I am concerned about what behavior was leading to a suspension. I've taught k-2 for years and we've never had behavior to the point of suspension. I like to think that has to be for an extreme case. If a kid is injured, for example, ignoring the injury and only doing a class discussion is worrisome. 

[Lisa Lightner]

3 hours ago, EmilyM said:

You're absolutely right, but I am concerned about what behavior was leading to a suspension. I've taught k-2 for years and we've never had behavior to the point of suspension. I like to think that has to be for an extreme case. If a kid is injured, for example, ignoring the injury and only doing a class discussion is worrisome. 

And that's the way it used to be.

But, in the past decade or two, it's trending the other way and kids are being suspended for some really dumb sh!t that schools should be handling. They're under-resourced and understaffed most of the time, so they're just in panic mode and get the kids out the door--suspend them.