In the July-August 2009 issue of In Case (Council of Administrators in Special Education), Julie Weatherly (attorney with the Weatherly Law Firm) begins a series of articles addressing the discipline of students with disabilities. Here is the eighth essential point...
"Similar to the removals referenced in Essential Point #7 are those that are called "in-school suspension" or ISS. It is important to remember that the use of ISS to discipline a student with a disability could also constitute a 'change of placement.' In the commentary to the 2006 regulations, the U.S. Department of Education reiterated its 'long term policy' that an in-school suspension would not be considered a part of the days of suspension toward a change of placement 'as long as the child is afforded the opportuntiy to continue to approopriately participate in the general curriculum, continue to receive the services specified on the child's IEP, and continue to participate with nondisabled children to the extent they would have in their current placement (71 Federal Regulation, 46,715).' Therefore, based upon this guidance, whether a change of placement has occurred via the use of in-school suspension will depend upon what is afforded to the student in the ISS environment and whether the student is appropriately participating in the general curriculum there, receiving the services listed on his IEP and participating with nondisabled students to the same extent as contemplated by his current IEP. If not, then it is arguable that days served in ISS should be considered in determining whether a pattern of removals has occurred that constitutes a 'change of placement.'
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