Section 7-34-E-300.530 - Authority of school personnel(a)Case-by-case determination. School personnel may consider any unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis when determining whether a change in placement, consistent with the other requirements of this section, is appropriate for a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct.(b)General.(1) School personnel under this section, may remove a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct from his or her current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension. for not more than ten (10) consecutive school days (to the extent those alternatives are applied to children without disabilities), and for additional removals of not more than ten (10) consecutive school days in that same school year for separate incidents of misconduct (as long as those removals do not constitute a change of placement under §300.536).(2) After a child with a disability has been removed from his or her current placement for ten (10) school days in the same school year, during any subsequent days of removal, the public agency must provide services to the extent required under paragraph (d) below.(c)Additional authority for disciplinary changes of placement. For disciplinary changes in placement that would exceed ten (10) consecutive school days, if the behavior that gave rise to the violation of the school code is determined not to be a manifestation of the child's disability pursuant to paragraph (e) below, school personnel may apply the relevant disciplinary procedures to children with disabilities in the same manner and for the same duration as the procedures would be applied to children without disabilities, except as provided in paragraph (d) below.(d)Services.(1) A child with a disability who is removed from the child's current placement, pursuant to paragraphs (c) above or (g) below must (i) Continue to receive educational services, as provided in §300.101(a), so as to enable the child to continue to participate in the general education curriculum, although in another setting, and to progress toward meeting the goals set out in the child's IEP; and (ii) Receive, as appropriate, a functional behavioral assessment (FBA), and behavioral intervention services, and modifications, that are designed to address the behavior violation to prevent said behavior from recurring. a.An FBA is an assessment utilized to evaluate a child's behavior and determine the purpose or function of that behavior. The result of an FBA must lead to the development/modification and implementation of a behavior intervention plan.The FBA must include all of the following:
1. Clear description of the problematic behavior;2. Identification of the antecedent events, times, and situations that predict when the problem behavior will and will not occur;3. Identification of the consequences of the problem behavior;4. Development of hypotheses and summary statements that describe the problem behavior and its functions; and5. Collection of data from a variety of sources: interviews, direct observation data, etc.b. A behavior intervention plan (BIP) must use the information gathered from the FBA to develop a concrete plan of action for improving a student's behavior. A BIP focuses on redesigning the environment and building new skills that make the problem behavior irrelevant, inefficient, and ineffective in the environment. The BIP is not to control the student but to enable the student to be successful in his/her environment. All of the following must be included in a BIP:1. Observable and measurable description of the problem behavior;2. Identified purpose of the problem behavior as a result of the FBA;3. General strategy or combination of strategies for changing the problem behavior;4. Written description of when, where, and how often the strategy will be implemented; and5. Consistent system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the plan.(2) The services required by paragraph (d)(1) above, (d)(3), (d)(4), and (d)(5) below may be provided in an interim alternative educational setting.(3) A public agency is only required to provide services during periods of removal to a child with a disability who has been removed from his or her current placement for ten (10) school days or less in that school year, if it provides services to a child without disabilities who is similarly removed.(4) After a child with a disability has been removed from his or her current placement for ten (10) school days in the same school year, if the current removal is not for more than ten (10) consecutive school days and is not a change of placement under §300.536, school personnel, in consultation with at least one of the child's teachers, determine the extent to which services are needed, as provided in §300.101(a), so as to enable the child to continue to participate in the general education curriculum, although in another setting, and to progress toward meeting the goals set out in the child's IEP.(5) If the removal is a change of placement under §300.536, the child's IEP committee determines appropriate services under paragraph (d)(1) above.(e)Manifestation determination.(1) Within ten (10) school days of any decision to change the placement of a child with a disability because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child's IEP committee (as determined by the parent and the LEA) must review all relevant information in the student's file, including the child's IEP, any teacher observations, and any relevant information provided by the parents to determine(i) If the conduct in question was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability; or(ii) If the conduct in question was the direct result of the LEA's failure to implement the IEP.(2) The conduct must be determined to be a manifestation of the child's disability if the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child's IEP committee determine that a condition in either paragraph (e)(1)(i) or (1)(ii) above was met.(3) If the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the child's IEP committee determine the condition described in paragraph (e)(1)(ii) above was met, the LEA must take immediate steps to remedy those deficiencies.(f)Determination that behavior was a manifestation. If the LEA, the parent, and relevant members of the IEP committee make the determination that the conduct was a manifestation of the child's disability, the IEP committee must (1) Either (i) Conduct a functional behavioral assessment, unless the LEA had conducted a functional behavior assessment before the behavior that resulted in the change of placement occurred, and implement a behavioral intervention plan for the child as required by paragraph (d)(1)(a) and (b) above; or(ii) If a behavioral intervention plan already has been developed, review the behavioral intervention plan, and modify it, as necessary, to address the behavior; and(2) Except as provided in paragraph (g) below, return the child to the placement from which the child was removed, unless the parent and the LEA agree to a change of placement as part of the modification of the behavioral intervention plan.(g)Special circumstances. School personnel may remove a student to an interim alternative educational setting for not more than forty-five (45) school days without regard to whether the behavior is determined to be a manifestation of the child's disability, if the child (1) Carries a weapon to or possesses a weapon at school, on school premises, or to or at a school function under the jurisdiction of the LEA;(2) Knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs, or sells or solicits the sale of a controlled substance, while at school, on school premises, or at a school function under the jurisdiction of the LEA; or(3) Has inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person while at school, on school premises, or at a school function under the jurisdiction of the LEA.(h)Notification. On the date on which the decision is made to make a removal that constitutes a change of placement of a child with a disability because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the LEA must notify the parents of that decision, and provide the parents the procedural safeguards notice described in §300.504.(i)Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply (1)Controlled substance means a drug or other substance identified under schedules I, II, III, IV, or V in section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 812(c)].(2)Illegal drug means a controlled substance; but does not include a controlled substance that is legally possessed or used under the supervision of a licensed health-care professional or that is legally possessed or used under any other authority under the Controlled Substances Act or under any other provision of federal law.
(3)Serious bodily injury is defined in paragraph (3) of subsection (h) of section 1365 of title 18, United States Code.(4)Weapon is defined in paragraph (2) of the first subsection (g) of section 930 of title 18, United States Code.7 Miss. Code. R. 34-E-300.530