View FileMarch 18, 2005 to individual (personally identifiable information redacted) (MS Word)
Dated March 18, 2005This is in response to your email to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in which you seek written clarification of the requirements of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (Part B) for conducting a manifestation determination review for children with disabilities in disciplinary situations. In your inquiry, you request that OSEP provide an opinion on the Oregon Department of Education's interpretation of 34 CFR 300.523 of the March 12, 1999 regulations implementing Part B. Specifically, you state: Oregon has determined that no manifestation determination review need be held, even when a student has an expulsion hearing pending. You further state that it is your contention that the IDEA was written to include all times a district contemplates' such a removal, and furthermore, that scheduling and holding an expulsion hearing, no matter what the outcome, is evidence of contemplating exactly that. This response confirms the oral clarification that members of my staff provided you regarding this matter.The U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Honig v. Doe, 108 S. Ct. 592 (1988) established that a student with a disability could not be unilaterally removed from school for more than ten school days for misconduct that arose from the student's disability. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 included specific provisions in law requiring a manifestation determination review before a school district could implement a disciplinary removal that constituted a change of placement. 20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(4); see also 34 CFR 300.523.Section 300.519 of the Part B regulations defines change of placement for disciplinary removals as a removal for more than 10 consecutive school days or a series of removals that constitute a pattern because they cumulate to more than 10 school days in a school year, and becauSincerely,/s/Patricia J. GuardActing DirectorOffice of Special Education Programscc:Dr. Nancy J. LatiniAssociate SuperintendentPage PAGE 2
