8.5.1 Basic Principles

Students with disabilities receive extra disciplinary protections that limit a school district’s ability to remove them when their behaviors are related to their disability. The guiding principle behind this legal concept is that children with disabilities should not be punished for behaviors caused by their disabilities. A student with a disability who is removed from school for violations of the school code of conduct for more than 10 days is entitled to a Manifestation Determination Review (or “MDR”). The purpose of an MDR is to determine whether the student’s behavior was related to the student’s disability or whether it was a result of the school’s failure to implement the student’s IEP. If it is determined that the behavior was related to the disability or caused by the failure to implement the IEP, then the discipline is overturned, and in most cases the student must be immediately returned to the student’s placement.

Although the source of the law regarding these protections is the IDEA and state special education regulations, the Office for Civil Rights, the courts, and state regulations all declare that the IDEA disciplinary protections apply equally to students with 504 Plans.1  These procedural protections also apply to students who have not yet been determined to be eligible for special education, but of whom the LEA had knowledge that the child was a child with a disability before the behavior occurred.2  An LEA is deemed to have knowledge that the child is a child with a disability if, before the behavior occurred, (1) the parent requested an evaluation of the child; (2) the parent expressed concern in writing to the student’s teacher or school administration about the student’s need for special education and related services; or (3) the student’s teacher or other school or district staff told school or district supervisory personnel of specific concerns about the student’s pattern of behavior.3

• 1Section 504 regulations require a reevaluation before any significant change in placement, such as a disciplinary removal. The Office for Civil Rights and courts have interpreted this provision as meaning that a Manifestation Determination Review must be held. See Off. for Civ. Rts., U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 at 18-21 (July 2022).
• 2La. Bulletin 1706 § 534(A).
• 3Id. § 534(B). Where a parent has either refused to provide consent for a special education evaluation or has refused special education services or where the district has evaluated the student and found them ineligible for services, then the student is not protected by the heightened special education disciplinary protections. Id. § 530(C).