Comments on: When your disability gets you sent home from school

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 13:06:30 +0000

I agree with both Chris and Skylar. Parent responsibilities do not stop at the school door, and FAPE does protect students with disabilities. I hope readers will consider that there are two sides to a story. This article could easily lead readers to believe the referenced school districts are not commenting due to covering up bad decisions. In reality school employees and district officials are not permitted to comment on student discipline or investigations due to laws protecting children/family privacy. Maybe the referenced child with scissors was trying to cut the cuticles of other students and staff. Districts would not be allowed to share this. I hope readers will also consider the following three points. First, schools are not trained, staffed, nor funded to effectively deal with students with significant behaviors. Second, there is a national teacher shortage and with even a smaller pool interested in working with students that are routinely physically aggressive or extremely disrespectful toward students and staff, regardless of disability. Third, schools should be accountable to document suspensions appropriately and make every effort to redirect behavior at school. But to what expense? The beauty of FAPE is the advocacy and rights of the individual student. Unfortunately, FAPE fails to recognize the needs of all students served within a school, particularly when the child is a harm, or creates a routine disruption to the class/school.

By: Drew

Drew — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 19:40:56 +0000

I am a teacher as well and I get that schools are supposed to provide FAPE but there are limits to that. I agree that informal removals that aren’t documented are not the solution and violate the law. But what is a school, or school staff, supposed to do when a student needs more support and accommodations than the school is able to give? At some point there are students that need specialized programs that can provide the kind of supports that some children need and that may require that the parent enroll the student in a different school.

By: Skylar L. Primm

Skylar L. Primm — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 11:41:20 +0000

It may be your personal opinion that the burden should fall on the parent, but it is absolutely not in line with federal disability education law, which requires public schools to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to all students with disabilities. Not only that, the article clearly shows that the students in question were not a danger to themselves or their classmates. They were simply considered a burden or a disruption. (I’m a teacher, and have heard plenty of similar stories from parents.)

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 15:35:22 +0000

If a child shows evidence or behavior that makes him a risk to harm himself or others, they should be removed for the protection of the students around them. If a child cannot thrive in a traditional school environment it is the onus of the parent, not the school, to find an appropriate learning facility for their child.