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Discipline, Placement, and Your Child's Rights
Know the Rules. Track the Data.
When your child loses access to their placement or instruction because of behavior, IDEA provides important protections. Track what's happening, Understand your rights, and take the next best step.
Maintaining your own records may prove to be your most valuable resource throughout this process.
Start with the behavior, not the consequence.
Before you can understand the discipline, you need to understand the behavior. Identify what is happening, how often, where, and what typically happens before and after each incident. Patterns reveal unmet needs, ineffective supports, or a lack of appropriate interventions.
Track and Look for Patterns
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Is the same behavior happening repeatedly?
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Are certain times, settings, or staff involved more often?
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Have the behaviors become more frequent or severe?
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Has the school consistently responded the same way?
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Are the current supports actually working?
When Discipline Starts Changing Your Child's Placement
Under IDEA, multiple removals can add up. Once your child has been removed from their current placement for around 10 school days in a school year, additional legal protections and responsibilities may be triggered. This can include reviewing whether the behavior is related to their disability and determining whether the current program is appropriate.
Many families are surprised to learn how quickly days accumulate—through suspensions, shortened days, emergency pickups, or other removals. By the time a meeting is called, the conversation may already be focused on moving your child to a more restrictive setting or an alternative school.
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Instructional time is lost
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Opportunities are missed
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Placement decisions can change
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Your child's rights are affected
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Data helps you make informed decisions and protect your child
Why It Matters
The Continuum of Placements Matters
Alternative school is not the only option. IDEA requires schools to consider the full continuum of supports, services, or a different placement that can meet your child's needs in the least restrictive environment (LRE) whenever appropriate.
Ask Yourself
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How many instructional days has my child actually missed?
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How often has my child been removed from their placement?
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Is there a pattern to the behavior or the removals?
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Did the school try appropriate interventions and supports?
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Is the proposed placement change truly necessary?
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Does the data support a different public or private placement?
Does In-School Suspension (ISS) Count as Being "Out of Placement?"
Not automatically. OSEP guidance (Letter to Carrie Mason, July 27, 2018) explains that ISS does not count as a removal only if the student:
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Continues to appropriately participate in the general education curriculum;
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Continues to receive all special education and related services required by the IEP; and
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Continues to participate with nondisabled peers to the same extent required by the IEP.
If any one of these is missing, the ISS placement may count as a disciplinary removal for IDEA purposes—even if the school says it is not a suspension.
Reality Check
School:
"He wasn't out of placement. He was in ISS with a special education teacher."
Parent:
Did he receive all of the services in his IEP?
Did he continue participating in the general education curriculum?
Did he continue participating with nondisabled peers to the extent required by his IEP?
Those—not simply the job title of the adult supervising ISS—are the questions IDEA requires schools to answer.
