Copyright 1999 Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles
Times
March 13, 1999, Saturday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 17; National Desk
LENGTH: 871 words
HEADLINE:
U.S. ADJUSTS DISCIPLINE RULES FOR DISABLED PUPILS;
EDUCATION: PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL BE ABLE TO TREAT STUDENTS
EQUALLY IN MATTERS OF SUSPENSION. CHANGE IS EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN
ADMINISTRATORS' HANDS.
BYLINE: MELISSA HEALY, TIMES
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The Education Department
issued new regulations Friday that will allow public schools to
discipline disabled students as they would their non-disabled
classmates.
Unveiling a thick tome of new regulations governing special
education programs, officials said that school administrators
may suspend special-education students for as long as 10 days
for major infractions of school rules without making special provisions for
them. But for longer or subsequent suspensions, the new federal regulations
require schools to provide whatever services might be necessary to allow a child
to progress in his or her educational plan.
Those services could range
from as little as sending classwork home to furnishing tutors, psychological
counseling and health care assistance at home. Federal officials said that the
new guidelines will help strengthen the hands of school administrators in coping
with discipline problems among the nation's 6 million students
with physical, mental and learning disabilities.
But
amid a heated national argument about educational resources for special
education students, officials in Washington acknowledged that
their rules on home schooling for disabled children who have been disciplined
could irk some school administrators, who believe that they already must deal
with heavy federal mandates to educate all children with
disabilities.
"Our balanced position on
discipline may leave both sides less than pleased,"
Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said.
The federal
regulations spell out for parents, teachers and school administrators how they
must interpret amendments that Congress made in 1997 to the landmark Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. When it was adopted in 1975,
the law--commonly called IDEA--required school districts to provide "a free and
appropriate public education" to all disabled students. But
lawmakers feared that school districts might seek to avoid that responsibility
in difficult cases. So they barred schools from suspending children from school
for more than 10 days because of disciplinary problems--or 45 days in instances
of gun possession. And they directed the federal Education
Department to draw up everyday rules to carry out the law.
Under rules
in place until now, a child could not be suspended for more than 10 days unless
all parties, including the child's parents, agreed that the disciplinary
infraction was not attributable to the child's disability.
The regulations issued Friday make it far easier for school officials to
suspend a disabled student for disciplinary problems. They allow a special
education student to be transferred to an "appropriate interim
educational setting" for up to 45 days if the child carries a firearm into
school, possesses or takes drugs on school property or is "substantially likely
to injure" himself or others. Such disciplinary action also will trigger a
review of the child's personal curriculum and school officials in most cases
will be required to order a study of the child's behavioral problems.
In
California, where the number of children with physical, emotional and learning
disabilities has increased by 35% in the last decade, both
discipline and the cost of providing special
education services have been heavily debated. Of the $ 3.7
billion spent annually on special education in California, all
but $ 182 million in federal funding is paid from state, local and school
district monies.
And disciplinary problems are both numerous and costly
for the state. According to 1995-96 data released by the
Education Department on Friday, 16,653 of the state's 565,670
special education students were classified as disabled by
emotional disturbances. Of those, roughly 9,300 share classrooms and schools
with non-disabled students and about 7,050 are taught in separate
facilities--the most costly option for school districts.
Judith E.
Heumann, assistant secretary of Education in charge of special
education programs, said Friday that fewer than 1% of disabled
students are involved in severe disciplinary incidents--a rate similar to that
among students without disabilities.
But Doreen Lohnes,
assistant superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District in Orange
County, said that for children with emotional disturbances and learning
disabilities, discipline can be a special problem. In
California, 107,500 children are considered learning disabled.
"Children
who have learning disabilities will have a higher degree of
emotionality and have a more difficult time," said Lohnes. Reacting to sketchy
details of Friday's regulations, Lohnes expressed guarded satisfaction that on
many disputes over discipline, including this one, the
Education Department had bowed to school administrators seeking
greater flexibility.
Berkeley-based disabilities
attorney Diane J. Lipton disagreed, saying that parents and advocates for the
disabled "may be somewhat disappointed" with the new disciplinary guidelines.
"It appears that school districts will be allowed to stop services for
short-term suspensions," she said. "And for some children, we know that school
districts--inconsistently--use suspensions as a primary way of dealing with
problems."
LOAD-DATE: March 13, 1999
