Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 CHAPTER 2: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 CHAPTER OVERVIEW Courts have recognized the crucial importance of schools maintaining a safe and orderly educational environment and have granted great latitude to teachers to exercise this control through the use of discipline. Courts, however, have also recognized that students, while at school, have rights that must be respected. The purpose of this chapter is to examine important legal issues for schools as they try to balance the rights and responsibilities of both teachers and students.

Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction II.Teachers’ Duty to Enforce Discipline III.Students’ Due Process Protections A.Procedural due process: The right to fair procedures B. Substantive due process: The right to reasonableness C. Summary of due process protections and discipline IV.Disciplining Students with Disabilities A. Disciplinary provisions of IDEA 1997 & Suspensions and expulsions 2.The manifestation determination 3.The interim alternative educational setting B.Proactively addressing behavior problems of students with disabilities C.Summary of disciplining students with disabilities V.School-wide Discipline A. Developing school-wide discipline policies B. Rules and consequences C. Programming for students with serious behavior problems VI.Implications for Teachers and Administrators A.Developing school district disciplinary policies and procedures 1.Proactively address problem behavior 2.Provide training in behavioral interventions to teachers 3.Document disciplinary actions 4.Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions

Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 CHAPTER SUMMARY School districts, administrators, and teachers have legal rights and responsibilities to ensure that their students attend safe and orderly environments where they can receive a meaningful education. To do this, educational personnel need to develop and reinforce appropriate behaviors while discouraging and reducing inappropriate behaviors. Schoolwide discipline programs eschew the traditional discipline methods of reducing inappropriate behaviors through punishment and exclusion, and instead focus on a positive, proactive, problem-solving model for promoting appropriate behavior, and discouraging inappropriate behavior. For students with the most serious problem behavior, the IDEA requires adoption of a similar problem-solving approach using FBAs and BIPs to address these students’ problems. Schoolwide discipline plans that are properly developed and implemented will result in safe and orderly schools where teachers can teach and students can learn. Such programs should begin with positive educational programming that does not rely on punitive reductive procedures to change behavior, but rather develops skill-based programming and discipline systems designed to improve the education of their students.

Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FROM TEXT 1.The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) requires school-based teams to use positive behavior interventions and supports, and to move away from reliance on punishment when addressing problem behavior. What are positive behavior interventions and supports, and why does the law encourage their use? 2.What are the due process protections for students? How can schools ensure that due process protections are available to all students? 3.What does the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act require when using short-term suspensions with students who are receiving special education services? 4.What discipline procedures can schools use for students receiving special education services? Specifically, what action can a school take when a student receiving special education services brings a weapon to school? 5.What is an interim alternative educational setting? What must schools do to ensure these settings are appropriate? 6.What is a manifestation determination?

Behavior Management: Applications for Teachers (5 th Ed.) Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1.How do courts determine whether school rules and consequences are reasonable? What criteria may be taken into consideration? 2. What suggestions would you make to a group of administrators interested in improving their school district’s disciplinary policies and procedures? How, for example, might the district facilitate a better understanding of disciplinary policy among teachers and parents? 3. Why is it imperative that teachers keep detailed records about interventions and disciplinary actions? From behavioral and legal standpoints, what are the implications of not doing so?