Jennifer: My child with an anxiety disorder has been suspended 3 times this year (in 3 months), but has been removed from class several other days or partial days due to behavior related to her anxiety. Does the time spent out of the educational setting in school, but not suspended, as consequences resulting from behaviors related to her disability count towards the 10 days? Thanks.
Jennifer –
The federal Dept of Education requires states to collect and report discipline date. As of late, they have been instructing states to count any time a student spends outside of his/her typical program for at least half a school day as one school day. So as far as they are concerned, your child’s time spent outside her program would count for towards the 10 days. But, as Chuck noted, this doesn’t mean that a hearing officer would rule that way.
I assume you are wondering if this time counts because you want to prevent further removal. You don’t have to wait for the 10 days to act. You can ask for the IEP Team to meet now to address whatever challenges your daughter is having. You can also ask that they reevaluate.
To my knowledge, laws, rulings by hearing officers & courts do not address this Issue, but I believe that these should be counted toward the 10 days, since the child is out of their normal placement. School attorneys tell schools that if a student is sent home in the middle of the day, that should count as 1 day.. Your state parent training & information project can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/