Legal Issues in Special EducationPTLAJuly 17, 2012

Principal Leadership for Special Education

Carl Lashley, Ed.D., Associate ProfessorEducational Leadership and Cultural FoundationsUniversity of North Carolina Greensboro342 SOEBGreensboro, NC 27402Cell (336) 549-9163Web: http://www.clashley.comTwitter: flashpoints48

Person First LanguageStudents deserve better than to be reduced to labels,

particularly when labels become acronyms or initials.

Students are human beings who have characteristics. They are NOT their characteristics.

Characteristics are not deficiencies. Nor are they abundances. They just are.

How we name what is around us speaks to our moral conceptions of worth, purpose, and possibility.

People First Language

People-First Language by anthromike

APA on Person First Language

PTLA: The LABEL

What does it mean to say “he’s PTLA”?

Person First Language Students (or people or children) with

disabilities

Students (or people or children) who are learning English

Students who use wheel chairs

People who are deaf

Students who have learning disabilities

A parent who uses a walker

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder

Students who have immigrated

Children with intellectual disabilities

A student with emotional disabilities

Students who receive special education

Students who are learning English

Children who scored at Level 2

Children who come from families in poverty

Students who require reasonable accommodations

A student who is academically gifted

Students who are musically talented

Students who are high achievers

EC

What’s Missing?Strategic Leadership

Instructional Leadership

Cultural Leadership

Human Resource Leadership

Managerial Leadership

External Development Leadership

Micropolitical Leadership

Legal Issues inSpecial Education

Major Principles of Special Education LawEqual Protection of the Law

(U.S. Constitution V & XIV)

Due Process of Law

(U.S. Constitution V & XIV)

Free Appropriate Public Education

(EHA, 1975; IDEA, 2004; Section 504; state laws)

Major Principles of Special Education LawEqual Protection of the Law

Students with disabilities must have access to an education as all other students do. PARC v. Pennsylvania (1968) Mills v. Board of Education of Washington, DC (1968) NCARC v. North Carolina (1973)

Permissive Legislation Right to Education statutes

Major Principles of Special Education LawDue Process of Law

If a school district proposes to change the education of a student with a disability or a student who may be thought to have a disability, the decision must be made through due process of law. Notice of the nature of the decision Opportunity for Response Fair Hearing

DEC forms IEP Team deliberations Facilitated IEPs/Mediation Due Process Hearing/SEA Appeal/Litigation

Major Principles of Special Education LawFree Appropriate Public Education

Free—at public expense Appropriate—compliant and designed to provide

educational benefit Public—under the supervision of the public school system Education—a program the student needs to learn and

adapt to his/her environment

the standard a district must meet to comply with IDEA and/or Section 504

Major Principles of Special Education LawEqual Protection of the Law

Due Process of Law

Free Appropriate Public Education

EHA, 1975; IDEA, 2004; state laws

Section 504

Right to an Education

Educational Entitlement$$$$$$$$$

Non-discrimination ProtectionCivil Rights Enforcement

What About Bob?

Bob is a 15 year old eighth grade student at Bourne Middle School. He reads, writes, and does math well below grade level. He will transition to high school in the Fall. As Bob’s IEP Team, what would be your perspective on an appropriate education for Bob?

Untangling IDEA, Section 504, and NCLB

Section 504 purposesAccess to facilities, programs, services, and

educational opportunities

Access to general education curriculum and the general education classroom

Access to standardized assessment systems

Reasonable accommodations

IDEA purposes Identification and categorization

Nondiscriminatory assessment

Appropriate education

Individualized educational planning

Least restrictive environment

Parental involvement in decision making

Are these reasonable accommodations? A parent requests that her son who has autism be permitted to have

his service dog with him at all times at school

A parents requests that the school be a peanut-free environment because her daughter has peanut allergies

A student who uses a wheelchair requests that the marching band take an accessible bus on every band trip

A psychiatrist writes a prescription that requires that a student with Attention Deficit Disorder be permitted to have his service ferret with him at all times in school

A student with a learning disability requests unlimited time to take EOCs

A student with intellectual disabilities objects because she was cut during dance team tryouts

Disability CategoriesTo be eligible for services under IDEA, a student must

meet the criteria at 34 C.F.R. §300.8 for one of 14 categories:

Autism, Child Aged Three Through Nine Experiencing Developmental Delays, Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disability, Speech or Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visual Impairment

IDEA/NCLB Re-grouping Students with Academic Disabilities

Specific Learning Disabilities Speech-Impairment Behavior-Emotional Disabilities Other Health Impairment Autism Spectrum Disorder Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Students with Sensory Disabilities

Hearing Impaired

Visually Impaired

Orthopedically Impaired

Students with Significant Disabilities

Traumatic Brain Injury

Moderate to Severe Intellectual Disabilities

Multiple Disabilities

Deaf-Blind

General Legal Principles from IDEA and 504 in an NCLB framework

Appropriate educationAccess to the general education

curriculumAccommodations that provide access to

curriculum, instruction, and assessmentAccountability for student performanceParent involvement in decision making

Legal Expectations for Educating Students with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodations in Curriculum

Reasonable accommodations in Instruction

Reasonable accommodations in Assessment

Passing statewide assessments

Meeting state academic standards

High school graduation

College and Career Ready

IEP/Sec 504 Plan A

PPROPRIATE

Access to General Education

A Continuum of Services ScenarioChildren come to school with varying abilities, experiences, and motivation. When these internal factors cause them to fail in school, it is the school district’s responsibility to provide a continuum of special curriculum and instructional services to meet their needs. Some students (those with disabilities) have such extraordinary needs that it is sometimes necessary to separate them from their peers to meet those needs. In order to generate the resources necessary to support the additional services these students require to benefit from education, schools must identify and label them within the boundaries of due process of law. The professions of psychology and special education have developed tools and strategies which, when properly used, enable school personnel to identify, place, and plan instructional programs for particular students based on comparisons of their characteristics with those of their normal peers. Specially trained personnel are available to provide services for these students in special settings, when the program of general education is unable to meet their needs. Although students should only be separated from their peers when separation is necessary for progress to occur, working with students in special settings is sometimes necessary and justifiable. With the proper mixture of expertise and compassion, schools can meet the educational needs of these special students.

Oberti v. Board of Education of the Borough of Clementon (1993)

School districts have an affirmative obligation to rebut the IDEA’s strong preference for placement in general education settings before they consider other more restrictive settings.

1. Are the student’s disabilities so severe that s/he will receive little or no benefit from an inclusive placement?

2. Is the child so disruptive that the education of other students will be significantly impaired?

3. Is the cost of the inclusive placement so great that the education of other students will be negatively affected?

What about LRE?

When an IEP Team meets at Bourne Middle School, the members struggle with making LRE determinations. As the principal, what guidance would you give them?

Disciplinary Procedures

Honig v. Doe (1988)Students with disabilities cannot be expelled for

behavior related to their disabilities.

Students with disabilities may be suspended for up to ten days, if they pose an immediate threat to others.

Unilateral Cessation of ServicesThe courts have been clear that school districts

cannot act unilaterally to stop providing students with disabilities FAPE.

When is a disciplinary action a change of placement?

Expulsion and Students With DisabilitiesFor behavior that is not a manifestation of the

disability

Special education and related services must be provided.

Suspension and Students With DisabilitiesUp to ten days in succession

More than ten days cumulative--a pattern Similarity Length Proximity

Interim Alternative Educational Placement

Weapons, drugs, inflicting serious bodily injury

45 school days

Functional Behavioral AssessmentFunctional--an inquiry into the cause of a behavior

Assessing functional behavior:

“(a) interviews and rating scales,(b) direct and systematic observation of the

person's behavior, and(c) manipulating different environmental

events to see how behavior changes”Starin, 2007,

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.fab.starin.htm

Behavioral Intervention Plans “A plan of positive behavioral interventions in the IEP

of a child whose behaviors interfere with his/her learning or that of others.”

http://www.wrightslaw.com/links/glossary.sped.legal.htm

Manifestation Determination “If (a) child with disability engages in behavior or

breaks a rule or code of conduct that applies to nondisabled children and the school proposes to remove the child, the school must hold a hearing to determine if the child’s behavior was caused by the disability.”

http://www.fetaweb.com/06/glossary.sped.legal.htm

Disciplinary procedures should be:• Equitable• Educative• Empowering

Discipline should be a teaching and learning process.

Legal Issues in Special EducationPTLAJuly 17, 2012

Principal Leadership for Special Education

Carl Lashley, Ed.D., Associate ProfessorEducational Leadership and Cultural FoundationsUniversity of North Carolina Greensboro342 SOEBGreensboro, NC 27402Cell (336) 549-9163Web: http://www.clashley.comTwitter: flashpoints48