Special Education Law

Under the Massachusetts law, special education services are available to students aged three through twenty-two who have a disability. Students may be referred by school staff or parents/guardians if a disability is suspected. An evaluation will not be conducted without written consent from a parent/guardian. The evaluation will be completed within thirty school days. Once the evaluation is completed, the parent/guardian will be invited to attend a TEAM meeting to discuss the results of the evaluation within 45 school days from the date of referral. The TEAM will determine whether the child has a disability and needs specially designed instruction and services which are detailed in an Individualized Education Program (I.E.P.). No services will be provided without a parent’s/guardian’s written agreement to the Individualized Education Program (I.E.P.).

A wide range of helpful services are provided for students with disabilities at Chickering. Home and/or hospital tutoring is available for children who are chronically ill or will be absent from school for fourteen days or longer because of illness. Medical documentation is required in order to these services.

If you would like further information regarding special education services, including parents/guardians with children in need of home or hospital tutoring, please contact the Special Education Director Pre-K - 12 at 508-785-0036.

Copies of procedural safeguards can be obtained on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/laws.html.

Discipline of Students with Disabilities

In general, if a student with a disability, whether under a 504 plan or an IEP (Individual Education Program), violates the Code of Conduct, the school may suspend or remove that student from his or her current educational placement for no more than ten (10) consecutive school days in any school year. If he/she possesses, uses, sells or solicits illegal drugs on school grounds or at a school sponsored event; carries a weapon to school or to a school function; or inflicts serious bodily injury upon another person at school or at a school sponsored event, the school district may place that student in an interim alternative educational setting for up to forty-five (45) school days. If he/she has been placed in an interim alternative education setting as a result of disciplinary action, he/she may remain in the interim setting for a period not to exceed forty-five (45) school days. Thereafter, he/she will return to the previously agreed-upon educational placement unless the parent/guardian or the district has initiated a hearing on the disciplinary action that the district took and a hearing officer orders another placement, or the parent/guardian and the school agree to another placement.

Any time the school wishes to remove a student with a disability from his or her current educational placement for more than ten (10) consecutive school days in any school year, or if a student is removed for disciplinary reasons for more than a total of ten (10) days in any school year when a pattern of removal is occurring, this is a “change of placement.” A change of placement invokes certain procedural protections under federal special education law. These include the following:

1. Prior to any removal that constitutes a change in placement, the school district must convene a 504 or IEP Team meeting to develop a plan for conducting a functional behavioral assessment that will be used as the basis for developing specific strategies to address the student’s problematic behavior. If a behavioral intervention plan has been previously developed, the 504 or IEP Team will review it to make sure it is being implemented appropriately, and will modify it if necessary.

2. Prior to any disciplinary removal that constitutes a change in placement; the school district must inform the parent/guardian that the law requires that the school district consider whether or not the behavior that forms the basis for the student’s disciplinary removal is related to his or her disability. This is called a “manifestation determination.” Remember that the parent/guardian always has the right to participate as a member of the group of people making the determination.

Consideration of whether the behavior is a manifestation of the student’s disability

The law provides that the school district, parent/guardian, along with relevant Team members, must consider all evaluation information, observational information, the student’s IEP and placement; and must determine whether the student’s behavior that prompted disciplinary removal was a manifestation of his or her disability. The behavior is considered a manifestation of the student’s disability, if the conduct in question was caused by, or was a direct result of the school district’s failure to implement his or her 504 plan or IEP.

If the manifestation determination decision is that the disciplinary behavior was related to the student’s disability, then he/she may not be removed from the current educational placement (except in the case of a weapon, drug possession, or serious bodily injury to another) until the Team develops a new 504 plan or IEP and decides upon a new placement and the parent/guardian consents to the new plan and placement, or a Hearing Officer orders a removal from the current educational placement to another placement.

If the manifestation determination is that the behavior was not related to the student’s disability, then the school may suspend or otherwise discipline the student according to the school’s code of student conduct, except for that for any period of removal exceeding 10 school days the school district must provide the student with educational services that allow the student to continue to make educational progress. The school district must determine the educational services necessary, manner and location for providing those services.

In the case of a disagreement with the Team’s determination:

If you disagree with the Team’s decision on the “manifestation determination” or with the decision relating to placement of the student in an interim alternative education setting or any other disciplinary action, the parent/guardian has the right to appeal the Team’s decision by requesting an expedited due process hearing from the Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA).