Spotlight on Shortened School Days for Difficult Behavior

By Sara Kennedy, H&V Headquarters

Ryan is sent home because his behavior became difficult to manage in the contained classroom. Each day, all kids on IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) are sent from class fifteen minutes early to catch the bus. Emma was asked to stay home when her class has an offsite outdoor experience because of concerns about how she might react to a new situation.

Are these actions in alignment with special education law? Recent settlement documents from the Department of Justice indicate that these abbreviated school days may be a denial of FAPE (a free and appropriate public education) when a district program fails to appropriately address behavior through Positive Behavior Supports (PBIS) and other positive interventions. In an Alabama case, a hearing officer ruled that the district’s program failed to address problematic behaviors of a student with autism. Evidence reflected the student’s behaviors escalated to a point where his one-on-one paraeducator requested assistance and finally resigned. The district did not incorporate any positive interventions, or develop a Behavior Intervention Program (BIP) which resulted in the student’s regression in both academic skills and behavior over the course of two years. Clearly, the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) requires an IEP team to consider positive behavioral interventions and strategies when a student’s actions are found to interfere with their own learning or that of others. In this case, the district was ordered to conduct a Functional Behavioral Analysis, to begin to determine the cause of meaning of behaviors. The FBA would then inform a new IEP, and a BCBA and counseling should also be provided to the student under related services.

“Children do well if they can,” says Ross Greene, Ph.D., reminding parents and professionals about the need for intentional skill building and support of executive functioning skills. Careful and thorough assessment, counseling and positive interventions ranging from modified assignments, scaffolding, tip sheets for teachers to help recognize and respond to issues before they explode, and increasing self-awareness activities for students are a short list of proactive options IEP teams can put in place. Shortened school days deprive students of the educational and social benefits of peers and the general education curriculum delivered according to their unique abilities. At the least, students may miss a few minutes of reminders about homework or important concepts of the day, the chance to get to know peers socially and those important invitations to hang out or play after school. At worst, students miss so much of the educational day as to constitute a denial of FAPE.

For more information, see these cases and a website tracking a current class-action case. 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1420811/download (Volusia County Sch. Dist.)

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1399296/download (Lewiston, Maine).

And https://www.droregon.org/litigation-resources/jn-v-ode, the Disability Rights Oregon site.

Questions? Reach out to us at HQ, ask your local ASTra program, your state legal center, or Parent Training and Information Center.   ~

H&V Communicator – Fall 2021