Special education litigation remains a volatile area with significant practice implications. A review of the 2010 case law in the "Special Educator" identified discipline (manifestation determination, seclusion and restraints, harassment), evaluation/RTI, and postsecondary transition as specific areas of concern. School administrators should keep…

As the parent of a child who has or may have a disability, the federal and state laws give them certain rights--called procedural safeguards. If they would like a more detailed explanation of these rights, they should contact the principal of their child's school, a school administrator, their local special education director, or any of the…

Suspension rates in Ontario schools are high compared to British figures, low compared to American ones. The first of two sections presents an overview of the current status of school suspensions, including legal considerations, statistics regarding the number of students affected by suspension, characteristics of students who are suspended and…

Policies and procedures for disciplining students should be designed to teach them responsibility, rather than simply punish them. Providing educational opportunities to behavioral deviants is a problem that does not have a simple solution. However, alternatives to suspension or expulsion must be attempted before these disciplinary actions are…

This book is meant to be practical. It attempts to clarify what one should keep in mind and to describe what courses of action are open when one confronts a particular situation. It is stated that teachers and principals encounter discipline problems not because they are deficient in skill or in virtue, but because they have inherited misleading…

This manual outlines a process of establishing a student discipline program that can be tailor-made to specific schools or districts. The first chapter describes two basic considerations that must serve as the foundation for any discipline program--public expectations and legal requirements. The first part of this chapter explores sources of…

The courts have come to play an increasingly important role in educational policy making and the administrative management of our public schools. This is especially apparent in the context of school discipline where numerous and varied controversies have been translated into legal disputes over the past three decades, many of which have ultimately…

The Magnitude of disciplinary problems prompted the Louisiana State Legislature to authorize the continuance of the Task Force on Suspensions and Expulsions to further study the problems associated with said suspensions and expulsions and to evaluate the efforts of the former Task Force: during the 1972-73 academic year, a total of approximately…

This report on issues relating to parent and teacher responsibility for unruly students was presented to the 1989 General Assembly of North Carolina (1989 session) by the Legislative Research Committee. Committee proceedings are detailed followed by committee findings and recommendations. Twelve recommendations are offered in the areas of: (1)…

Educational policy makers and administrators must choose from a bewildering variety of discipline models and techniques. Legal intervention and contradictory research findings further complicate the matter. There is, therefore, no cut-and-dried solution to student behavior problems. Rather, discipline policies must be based on community values,…

The presentations of keynote speakers at four one-day workshops on student discipline are contained in this document. The first addresses the issue of maintaining student discipline in the integrated school through the cooperative faculty/student approach. Among the points made here are that discipline calls for a great deal of communication and…

To establish effective school discipline policies, educators must understand the nature of and reasons for misbehavior, social and legal attitudes toward the school's disciplinary function, acceptable responses to disciplinary problems, and the components of effective policies. This booklet's first chapter considers the need for discipline in…

When a child with a disability behaves in a manner which threatens the safety of other children and staff in the school, school authorities are faced with a dilemma. The balance between the competing interests of individuals and the school community is never more clearly seen than in such a situation. The child has a right to participate equally…

One of a series of implementation documents prepared in conjunction with the revised minimum standards adopted in 1983 by the Ohio State Board of Education for elementary and secondary schools, this publication discusses the basic elements of a code of conduct for students that complies with the requirements set forth in the minimum standards.…

These conference proceedings explore three major themes on student rights and responsibilities in public secondary schools, with the stated intent of facilitating progress toward an integrated school environment in which each student is (1) encouraged by a multiracial staff to participate fully, and (2) made to feel welcome as an equal member of…