Change in Placement of Students with Disabilities - Essay Example

Opinion Paper: Change in Placement with Disabilities The enactment of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was one major step towards the achievement of equality and fairness for persons with disabilities in regard to education. This Act protects the rights of learners with disabilities by ensuring that every person is allowed access to free appropriate public education (FAPE) despite their ability. IDEA requires placement of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE) settings as they receive special education. It therefore grants equal access to public education to students with disabilities. In addition, the Act provides for extra procedural safeguards and extra special educational services. The amendments of IDEA 1997 enhanced the opportunities of learners with disabilities to receive FAPE even when presenting dangerous and challenging behaviors. Currently, societies, schools and school administrations are very concerned with the safety of schools. Their top priority is to provide a safe school environment where children can assemble and learn free of violence, drugs and other criminal activities. In keeping with this concern, IDEA includes provisions that specifically address the issue of discipline of children with disabilities at school functions and in school settings. The Act addresses the extent to which disciplinary action may be taken by schools when a student with disabilities violates the code of student conduct. IDEA contains detailed mandates that change the procedures of the normal due process when the learner to be disciplined falls under the category of or is classified as a student with disabilities. These special provisions were incorporated into the latest version of the Act after years of court cases that tried to balance the rights of learners with disabilities to a FAPE and against the needs of schools and school administrators to maintain discipline and order in their buildings. The current provisions of the Act strike that balance by allowing learners with disabilities to be disciplined just like students without disabilities but providing them with special protections to ensure they are not disciplined for actions arising from their disabilities. Russo and Osborne (2008) explains these provisions therefore allow administrators of schools to subject students with disabilities to stern disciplinary actions just as they would to the non-disabled students if their actions are not stemming from their disabilities. Under some conditions, such disciplinary actions include the removal of learners with disabilities from their current educational placement into placing the students in interim setting. Suspension and expulsion can also be applied if appropriate. Arguments against change of placement If the student with disability is violating the school code of conduct for the first time, it is most appropriate that the school administration transfer the student to an interim alternative education setting (IAES) or suspend the student for not more than 10 consecutive days. However, this should only be done to the extend in which such alternatives are also applicable to students with disabilities. This may also be referred to as the 10-day rule Russo and Osborne , 2008). During the 10 days, the student does not receive special education services from the school just as a student without disability does not receive any educational services during suspension times. Students with disabilities face challenges catching up with other students even under normal or regular school attendance. This means that prolonged exclusion from class even for disciplinary action will greatly affect their performance and ability to catch up with others. In order to mitigate this, school administrations are required to provide special educational services to learners with disabilities beginning on the 11th cumulative day of their suspension. This will enable the particular learner to continue participating in curriculum of the general education and progress towards attaining the goals in their IEP, although in a different setting. It is also required that these removals should not constitute a change of placement in the context of discipline under §300.536. [§300.530(b)(1)] (Russo, 2011). A change in placement will be considered to have occurred if the lengths of removal during school days adds up to 10 school days. The second condition is when the behaviour of the child is substantially similar to their behaviour in the previous behaviour incidents that led the series of removal. The third condition is when other factors exist like the length of each removal, proximity of such removals to each other and the total amount of time the child has been removed. If a change is placement is considered to have occurred, the student or their parents can file a lawsuit against the school administration for this. Most importantly is that a change of placement is not allowed if the violation of the student/school code of conduct was a direct manifestation of the disability of the learner or the failure of the LEA to implement the student’s IEP. Such arguments protect student with disabilities to a great extend in regard to their behaviours and make it very add for a change in placement to occur even if they present serious and challenging behaviours in the classroom setting. they require that the child should be returned to their placement in which they were removed from after their disciplinary period. Counter arguments. School administration are allowed to make change of placement decisions for students with disabilities under the consideration of some factors or some unique circumstances. Within the 10 days of exclusion from the school setting, a manifestation determination must be conducted. This will help to reveal if the whether or not the student violation of the school code of conduct is linked to the disability of the learner. If it is revealed that the violation was not in any way a violation of the student’s disability nor a failure of the LEA’s to implement the student’s individualised education program (IEP), then the school administration is justified to subject the student to regular disciplinary procedures. Such disciplinary measures include making a removal that constitutes or results to a change of placement of the student. Apart from reliance on the results of manifestation determination, there are some provisions that have been made to allow school administration to make a change in placement for students with disabilities. These include situations where the violation involved serious body injuries to other students, drugs and use of weapons. In such cases, the child should not be returned to their placement in which they were removed from (Russo, 2011). My opinion Although it is of much importance to protect the rights of disabled students to a FAPE, care should also be taken least such a protection amounts to the violation of the right of other students to learn in a peaceful environment. There are incidences where the violations of the school code of conduct is repetitive and each of which presents a disruption of the learning process in the classroom, peaceful learning or the safety of other learners in the school. In such a case, school administration should be allowed to remove a learner with disability from the classroom up to 10 and including 10 consecutive school days. Even when it has been established that the actions of a student are a direct manifestation of their disability it is still justifiable to allow disciplinary teams to take measures that include making a removal that constitutes an alteration of placement of the student. This is very necessary in situations where such students inflict serious physical injuries upon other people within the school, knowingly possess, sale or use illegal drugs, and possess weapons at school function or within school premises. The school should not also be required to provide special services for such a student as a way of discouraging such vices. Although it may seem to be harsh to the students with disabilities, school administrators should be allowed to take such actions to ensure the safety and the rights of other learners, both disabled and without disabilities. If such actions are a manifestation of their disabilities, it means there are less assurance that a repeat of the same will not occur in future. Such a change in placement could also become a strong behaviour modification tool for a student with disability who manifests repetitive, high intensity and threatening violations of the student code of conduct. References Russo, C. and Osborne, A. (2008). Essential Concepts & School-Based Cases in Special Education Law. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press. Russo, C. (2011). The Legal Rights of Students With Disabilities: International Perspectives. Rowman & Littlefield. Read More