The Board shall abide by Federal and State laws regarding suspension, expulsion, alternative placement and discipline of students with disabilities (SWD). A student with a disability (SWD) is any Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Student, non-inclusive of Gifted only students, or a student with a 504 plan. Students who are suspected to have a disability are also protected as described below.

The purpose of an MDM is to determine whether the conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to the child’s disability; or if the student’s conduct was the direct result of the Local Education Agency’s (LEA) failure to implement the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plan.

A Manifestation Determination Meeting (MDM) must be held within ten (10) school days of any significant change to the educational placement of a SWD that is the result of a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. A significant change of placement includes any removal of more than ten (10) consecutive days, a series of removals totaling more than ten (10) or a pattern of removals based on substantially similar behaviors within a school year.

A Manifestation Determination Meeting (MDM) will be held prior to any change of educational placement or disciplinary reassignment for all SWD. If the behavior of a SWD is found not to be a manifestation of their disability, then the SWD may be disciplined to the same extent as their non-disabled peers.

To the extent that the recommended discipline for a SWD (whose behavior was determined not to be a manifestation of their disability or the direct result of a failure to implement an IEP or 504 Plan at an MDM) is disciplinary reassignment, then a disciplinary reassignment hearing will be afforded to the student.

Interim Alternative Educational Settings (IAES)

School personnel may remove a SWD to an IAES for not more than forty-five (45) school days without holding a MDM and/or hearing and without regard to whether the behavior is determined to be a manifestation of the student’s disability, if the student:

• Carries a weapon to or possesses a weapon at school, on school premises, or to a school function under the jurisdiction of a state education agency or a school district
• 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 a state education agency or a school district
• Has inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person while at school, on school premises, or at a school function under the jurisdiction of a state education agency or a school district

More serious bodily injury involves a substantial risk of death; extreme physical pain; protracted and obvious disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ or mental faculty. (18 USC 1365 (h)(3))