IDEA Regulations

By Tracy Gershwin Mueller

Provision of Services:

A public agency is only required to provide services during periods of removal to a child with a disability who has been removed from his or her current placement for ten school days or less in that school year, if it provides services to a child without disabilities who is similarly removed.
[34 CFR 300.530(d)(3)]

After a child with a disability has been removed from his or her current placement for ten school days in the same school year, during any subsequent days of removal the public agency must provide services to the extent required under 34 CFR 300.530(d) (services).
[34 CFR 300.530(b)(2)]

A child with a disability who is removed from the child’s current placement pursuant to 34 CFR 300.530(c) (a disciplinary change in placement for more than ten consecutive school days where the behavior is determined not to be a manifestation of the disability) or (g) (a removal for special circumstances related to drugs, weapons or serious bodily injury) must:
* Continue to receive education services, as provided in 34 CFR 300.101(a) (free appropriate public education (FAPE) requirements), so as to enable the child to continue to participate in the general education curriculum, although in another setting, and to progress toward meeting the goals set out in the child’s IEP; and
* Receive, as appropriate, a functional behavioral assessment, and behavioral intervention
services and modifications, that are designed to address the behavior violation so that it does not recur.
[34 CFR 300.530(d)(1)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(D)]

Manifestation Determination:

Within ten school days of any decision to change the placement of a child with a disability because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child’s IEP Team (as determined by the parent and the LEA) must review all relevant information in the student’s file, including the child’s IEP, any teacher observations, and any relevant information provided by the parents to determine:
* If the conduct in question was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to,
the child’s disability; or
* If the conduct in question was the direct result of the LEA’s failure to implement the IEP.

The conduct must be determined to be a manifestation of the child’s disability if the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child’s IEP Team determine that a condition in either 34 CFR 300.530(e)(1)(i) or (1)(ii) was met.
[34 CFR 300.530(e)(1) and (2)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(E)]

If the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child’s IEP Team determine the condition described in 34 CFR 300.530(e)(1)(ii) was met, the LEA must take immediate steps to remedy those deficiencies.
[34 CFR 300.530(e)(3)]

If The Behavior Was a Manifestation of the Disability:

If the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the IEP Team make the determination that the conduct was a manifestation of the child’s disability, the IEP Team must either conduct a functional behavioral assessment, unless the LEA had conducted a functional behavioral assessment before the behavior that resulted in the change of placement occurred, and implement a behavioral intervention plan for the child or, if a behavioral intervention plan already has been developed, review the behavioral intervention plan, and modify it, as necessary, to address the behavior; and except as provided in 34 CFR 300.530(g), return the child to the placement from which the child was removed, unless the parent and the LEA agree to a change of placement as part of the modification of the behavioral intervention plan.
[34 CFR 300.530(f)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(F)]

Short Term Removal:

School personnel under 34 CFR 300.530 may remove a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct from his or her current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for not more than ten consecutive school days (to the extent those alternatives are applied to children without disabilities), and for additional removals of not more than ten consecutive school days in that same school year for separate incidents of misconduct (as long as those removals do not constitute a change of placement under 34 CFR 300.536).
[34 CFR 300.530(b)(1)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(B)]

45 Day Removal Authority for Special Circumstances:

School personnel may remove a student to an interim alternative educational setting for not more than 45 school days without regard to whether the behavior is determined to be a manifestation of the child’s disability, if the child: (1) carries a weapon to or possesses a weapon at school, on school premises, or to or at a school function under the jurisdiction of a State educational agency (SEA) or a local educational agency (LEA); (2) knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs, or sells or solicits the sale of a controlled substance, while at school, on school premises, or to or at a school function under the jurisdiction of an SEA or an LEA; or, (3) has inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person while at school, on school premises, or at a school function under the jurisdiction of an SEA or an LEA.
[34 CFR 300.530(g)(1)-(3)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(G)(i)-(iii)]

Long-term Removal for Behavior that is not a Manifestation of the Disability:

For disciplinary changes in placement that would exceed ten consecutive school days, if the behavior that gave rise to the violation of the school code is determined not to be a manifestation of the child’s disability pursuant to 34 CFR 300.530(e), school personnel may apply the relevant disciplinary procedures to children with disabilities in the same manner and for the same duration as the procedures would be applied to children without disabilities, except as provided in 34 CFR 300.530(d) (services).
[34 CFR 300.530(c)] [20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(C)]