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How will courts and hearing officers interpret Endrew F? #FAPE

The National Center of Educational Statistics of the federal Institute of Education Sciences has issued a report on crime, violence, discipline and safety in U.S. Public Schools 2015-2016. The report provides findings using data from the 2015–16 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2016).  If you deal with school discipline or crime, you should study this report. The entire 83 page report is available here. Among the findings are a troubling number of schools feel that IDEA and related state rules pertaining to the discipline of students with disabilities are hindering their efforts to deal with crime in public schools! according to the study, Among the factors that were reported to limit schools’ efforts to reduce or prevent crime “in a major way,” three factors were more likely to be reported than others: a lack of, or inadequate, alternative placements or programs for disruptive students (30 percent); inadequate funds (28 percent); and federal, state, or district polic...

On July 26,  1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications, and state and local government services.Today marks the 27th anniversary of this groundbreaking law. To celebrate the birthday of ADA, here are some fun facts from our friends at the U S Census Bureau: Population Distribution 56.7 million The number of people in the United States with a disability in 2010, representing 19.0 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population. People with a disability have a physical or mental impairment that affects one or more major life activities, such as walking, bathing, dressing, eating, preparing meals, doing errands alone or doing housework. A disability can occur at birth or at any point in a person’s life.  Source: Americans With Disabilities: 2010 www.census.gov/content/dam...

How will courts and hearing officers interpret Endrew F? #FAPE

This is another installment in our continuing series on the basics of special education law.  Today we enter the mysterious world of unilateral placements.  If the parents (or adult student) win a due process hearing, the two most common types of relief are compensatory education and reimbursement for a unilateral placement.  Today we will take a look at the latter remedy. Unilateral Placements In the case of  Burlington Sch. Comm. v. Dept. of Educ., et. al.  471 U.S. 359, 105 S.Ct. 1996, 556 IDELR 389 (1985), the  Supreme Court  was faced with the issue of whether the IDEA  permitted courts to award reimbursement to parents when the  IEP  developed by the schools is not appropriate and the parent removes the student from public school and places him in a  private school  that does provide  FAPE .  Noting that the statutory provisions of the IDEA confer broad equitable powers upon the courts to fashion an appropriate ...

How will courts and hearing officers interpret Endrew F? #FAPE

This is the most recent post in the continuing series that is meant to be an introduction to special education law.  In today's post we will be discussing discipline of students with disabilities.  People often ask why disciplinary actions are regulated by the special education law.  The reason is that before passage of the law's predecessor, it was common for school officials to exclude children with disabilities by expelling them and giving them long suspensions. This series of abuses was reflected in the legislative history of the law.     Discipline is one area that seems to cause folks to develop stomach problems (sorta like the rule against perpetuities in law school), but it isn't really as hard as we seem to make it.  Let me know if this explanation helps.                               ...