Definition of a DAY OF DISMISSAL???

[buddy]

I can't find my links to how a day of dismissal is defined. Our admin today told me that since Q has gone home for half days that he has only been out 2 days. You all know I have posted here way more than that about going to pick him up....sigh.


I thought a partial day was still counted for special needs kids as a day of dismissal. I dont know though.

 

[alongfortheride]

Yes. They count towards the 10 days for Manifestation Hearings and/or change of placement. They are counted and reported as half days.

 

[buddy]

So, I have had to pick him up at 10, 11, 12, 9 and they are saying because he was there part of the day it is only half days. There were other days that he was out for days after and then there were the days they said he could only come part day as a "transition" from psychiatric hospital (the second short visit, he was only out of school for four days and the only reason he had a problem at school upon returning it turned out was a medication error from the hospital, they didn't catch that his cloniidine patch had been removed and so he was off his medication, once on he was fine but they insisted then on a transition plan....ugggg) which I said I didn't agree with and there was no iep team meeting but admin said it had to be so it was really dismissal days.

since he went to school, they are saying they are only half days. I dont agree....


Is there a legal definition of full day vs. half day?

If he has a problem first thing in teh am, they dink around and then call me at 11 to get him then he really missed out on the whole day of school.

Makes me crazy.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Call the advocate(s).

 

[buddy]

I did, just haven't answered yet so am trying to figure it out myself...

 

[alongfortheride]

As far as I see, in Minnesota, 2 partials = 1 day. This was revised in 2009. Also, if there is a pattern of dismissals (like the half day transitioning without PPT meeting) those can be counted as well.

 

[TeDo]

I don't know what to tell you Buddy. When I had to go pick difficult child 1 up during the day (no matter what time it was), they always sent a "Notice of Suspension" counting the partial day as 1 day and he was allowed to return the next day. You'd think that, with our SD at least, they wouldn't be in any hurry to reach the 10 days so why would they count the partial day as 1 day of suspension if the law allowed them to count partial days? That makes no sense. Can you call PACER and ask them? I will do some more checking, also.

 

[buddy]

Just seems like missing 5 out of 7 hours should not be counted as half of a day. Especially when the first two were spent in an office somewhere... uggg

Yeah, I put in the calls, I just was waiting and so hoping you wise wonders might know of a web addy to look. I tried the mn statutes, pacer, etc... but am not hitting things like I usually do for some reason.

just gotta be patient I guess...

 

[TeDo]

This is from “School Discipline of Students with Disabilities”: A Self-Advocacy Fact Sheet from the Minnesota Disability Law Center

You should watch for a pattern of exclusion. Sometimes a school will use a number of short suspensions to keep a student out of school. This is not legal. Pay attention to how many times the school suspends your child, how long each suspension lasts, and how close together the suspensions are over time.

I have a call in to MY PACER advocate too. You have me that curious.

 

[TeDo]

Do you have the dates, hours, etc written down somewhere? If not, you might need to read through you old posts to figure it out. If you do, AWESOME. You might need it.

 

[JJJ]

Check the student handbook for your district. They should have listed how many minutes is considered a "full day" and how many are a "half day". This should be a state standard so if you can't find it, just check nearby district's websites, they pay have it. I think in our district they must be there for 300 instructional minutes (do not count lunch and recess) for it to be a full day and 150 instructional minutes for it to be a half-day. So if a child was sent home after being there less than 2.5 hours, it would count as a full day suspension.

 

[buddy]

Just talked to the disability law advocate, she said if he leaves ten minutes before the end of the day it is considered a day of removal/suspension. Sorry dudes, you are using yours up.

 

[TeDo]

So how many days do YOU have? What is YOUR count, not theirs? If they say 2 (4 half days), they may have a rude awakening when you "remind" them of how many days you have REALLY had to come and take him home. Are they counting days you choose to take him home because of his behavior? You might want to check with your advocate about if those count as "removals" since they called you or if they are "absences" because it was YOUR choice to take him home. Since they are acting so similar to my SD did, it wouldn't surprise me if they aren't even counting those days.

 

[JJJ]

More importantly -- what do you want to happen with his placement??? That 10 days is only going to trigger a meeting to dicuss placement, you can call an IEP meeting at any time. But where do you want him placed???

 

[buddy]

Well, exactly. I really could give a patoootie..but I was asked to find out how many days so far. Truthfully everyone has stipulated to the fact that this is all related to his disability. They even admitted to the fact that he was suspended to set an example because the other kids saw him.

We ALREADY have an independent FBA starting because we already defined that this was a weakness in his IEP and BIP... and until we get all the information together we really can't make decisions.

But the concern is that in the mean time they are trying to sabotage things and fast track him out of there. Law advocate wants to keep track so that they can't force the independent person on too tight of a time line.

So, I really am not worried about this, but once the question was asked I really wanted to know....

I hope tonight isn't one of those head spinning, think too much about it nights.