Manifestation Determination made without a meeting?

[cadenor]

Our kiddo has an eligibility of ED.  A couple of weeks ago I was told he became frustrated in a general education class and walked out of the class and pushed two students. I asked for a copy of the document for the incident and was told due to FERPA (Dean of Students) that she didn't think I could have a copy because the other students name was on the document.  I asked her to redact those names and then send me a copy.  It did not happen.  She said that his behavior was not a manifestation of his disability (there was no manifestation determination meeting).  The school staff met on the day of the incident to discuss a solution and decided that an accommodation of an aide should be used as a one on one, with him in the general education to help him stay focused and hopefully avoid future frustrations.  She said  that they were looking at moving him to the special education classroom if the aide didn't work. She said his behavior disrupted the classroom and this disruption interfered with the other kids ability to access their education in the classroom.  Our kiddo describes the incident differently, but I don't have a copy of the document describing the incident even though I asked for it. Can they change his placement without a manifestation determination meeting? How long after an incident does the school have to hold a manifestation determination meeting?  It's been almost 3 weeks since the incident.   Our kiddo is a teenager and I would want his input at the manifestation meeting however he has a challenges with his working memory and therefore won't remember all the details. All I have is the say-so of a school staff member who won't provide the documentation provided by the teacher who reported it. I would think that for  a kid with ED who has a history of behavior issues, that a manifestation determination meeting would determine that it was part of his disability.  I will say that since his last eval he has been diagnosed with ASD/ADD.  ASD was noted on an IEP amendment (not as an eligibility, just a comment)  a couple of years ago, but the ASD comment  no longer appears anywhere on his IEP and the school doesn't know how that happened. I apologize for the long post; I just want to make sure I've anticipated any questions that might come up.  Thanks in advance. Your input is much appreciated.

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I'll try to answer your questions/issues in order.

First, you are absolutely entitled to a copy of the incident report with the other student's name redacted.  You are entitled to all educational records of your child under FERPA.  So ask for this again.

As far as a manifestation meeting not being held, this is not required until there have been 10 school days in which he has been removed from his placement (so an in-school suspension, out of school suspension, expulsion, or sometimes even having to stay in the principal's office all day).   If there have not been 10 days, your question then becomes can they change his placement without an IEP meeting (as opposed to changing it without manifestation hearing).  And the answer is no.  An IEP meeting must be held and a PWN (Prior Written Notice) must be given to you after the meeting regarding the decision.  In order to change his placement, there needs to be data that this is necessary.  If this is the only incident this school year, they probably don't have sufficient data to change his placement.  Ask for documentation of past incidents in other school years prior to the meeting just in case they use that.  You will also definitely need to get the documentation of the incident before the meeting, but you also need to obtain a copy of the school's code of student conduct and ask which provision was violated.  Then look to see what the consequences are for this violation.  It is doubtful that a regular education student would be removed from the classroom after one such incident, so it would be discrimination to remove your student.  They must follow the code of conduct regarding discipline until the 10 days of removal from placement kicks in.

If there have been 10 school days of removal, the manifestation hearing must be held within 10 school days.  Required participants are the LEA, parent, and "relevant" members of the IEP team (this being determined by the parent and LEA, so you could invite your child).  Two questions are asked:  1) Was the behavior a manifestation of the disability or 2) was it a direct result of the LEA not implementing the IEP?  So you absolutely need to know the facts surrounding the incident.  If the answer to number 1 is yes, the IEP and/or BIP needs to be revised to put supports in place to avoid future incidents.  If no FBA and resulting BIP have been done, it may be time for those.  If the answer to number 2 is yes, steps need to be taken by the school district to ensure that the IEP is followed in the future.

With respect to the IEP document, you definitely need to have that revised to include the additional diagnoses - not as a comment, but in the Present Levels under "diagnoses."  If you want him to be found eligible under those categories, you would need to ask for an evaluation in those areas.  It might be worth it if you wanted his eligibility category to be Autism rather than ED.  But the IEP team would need to find (after an evaluation) that Autism is the primary cause of his behavioral issues and thus the primary eligibility category.

[JSD24]

They can do a trial of adding an aide - it sounds like a reasonable next step.  I'm assuming there was an IEP meeting where this happened and you were present at the meeting.  Also assuming that this IEP meeting is where you were told that his behavior disrupted the classroom, etc.  There is a nice paper trail of what led to him having an aide.  Are the duties of the aide well defined in the revised IEP?

How long has it been since you requested a copy of the incident report?  Was your request in writing or verbally at the IEP meeting?  I'd ask again and keep adding a higher level admin to the cc with every email you send them.  Weekly isn't too often to be making a request like this.

[JSD24]

(Accidentally hit post.) I was wondering how they have this incident in your son's school records - records that, under FERPA, you are allowed to view - and this has the names of other students on it where an admin is saying you can't have a copy because of the other students' names.  If they will not send you a copy, make an appointment to go in and see the records.  They can charge you for copies under FERPA but you should be allowed to take photos with your phone.

As far as diagnoses go, there is medical autism and educational autism.  If he was diagnosed outside of school, he has medical autism.  Did the school do an autism eval?  Sometimes students don't meet the criteria for educational autism and the school says they have ED.  You can ask for an IEE at school expense to verify that he doesn't have educational autism and that ED is the right category in IDEA.  https://adayinourshoes.com/autism-whats-the-difference-between-medical-and-educational-diagnoses/