Adopted: MSBA/MASA
Model Policy 532
Orig.
2003
Revised: Rev.
2023
532 USE OF PEACE OFFICERS AND CRISIS TEAMS TO REMOVE STUDENTS
WITH IEPs FROM SCHOOL GROUNDS
I. PURPOSE
The
purpose of this policy is to describe the appropriate use of peace officers and
crisis teams to remove, if necessary, a student with an individualized
education program (IEP) from school grounds.
II. GENERAL
STATEMENT OF POLICY
The
school district is committed to promoting learning environments that are safe
for all members of the school community.
It further believes that students are the first priority and that they
should be reasonably protected from physical or emotional harm at all school
locations and during all school activities.
In
general, all students, including those with IEPs, are subject to the terms of
the school district’s discipline policy. Building level administrators have the
leadership responsibility to maintain a safe, secure, and orderly educational
environment within which learning can occur.
Corrective action to discipline a student and/or modify a student’s
behavior will be taken by staff when a student’s behavior violates the school
district’s discipline policy.
If
a student with an IEP engages in conduct which, in the judgment of school
personnel, endangers or may endanger the health, safety, or property of the student,
other students, staff members, or school property, that student may be removed
from school grounds in accordance with this policy.
III. DEFINITIONS
For
purposes of this policy, the following terms have the meaning given them in
this section:
A. “Crisis
team” means a group of persons, which may include teachers and non-teaching
school personnel, selected by the building administrator in each school
building who have received crisis intervention training and are responsible for
becoming actively involved with resolving crises. The building administrator or designee shall
serve as the leader of the crisis team.
B. “Emergency”
means a situation where immediate intervention is needed to protect a child or
other individual from physical injury.
C. “Peace
officer” means an employee or an elected or appointed official of a political
subdivision or law enforcement agency who is licensed by the Board of Peace
Officer Standards and Training, charged with the prevention and detection of
crime and the enforcement of general criminal laws of the state and who has the
full power of arrest. The term “peace
officer” includes a person who serves as a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, a police
officer, or a state patrol trooper.
D. “Police
liaison officer” is a peace officer who, pursuant to an agreement between the
school district and a political subdivision or law enforcement agency, is
assigned to a school building for all or a portion of the school day to provide
law enforcement assistance and support to the building administration and to
promote school safety, security, and positive relationships with students.
E. The
phrase “remove the student from school grounds” is the act of securing the
person of a student with an IEP and escorting that student from the school
building or school activity at which the student with an IEP is located.
F. “Student
with an IEP” or “the student” means a student who is eligible to receive
special education and related services pursuant to the terms of an IEP or an
individual interagency intervention plan (IIIP).
G.
All other terms and phrases used in this policy shall be defined in accordance
with applicable state and federal law or ordinary and customary usage.
IV. REMOVAL
OF STUDENTS WITH IEPs FROM SCHOOL GROUNDS
A. Removal
By Crisis Team
If
the behavior of a student with an IEP escalates to the point where the
student’s behavior endangers or may endanger the health, safety, or property of
the student, other students, staff members, or school property, the school
building’s crisis team may be summoned.
The crisis team may attempt to de-escalate the student’s behavior by
means including, but not limited to, those described in the student’s IEP
and/or behavior intervention plan. When
such measures fail, or when the crisis team determines that the student’s
behavior continues to endanger or may endanger the health, safety, or property
of the student, other students, staff members, or school property, the crisis
team may remove the student from school grounds.
If the student’s
behavior cannot be safely managed, school personnel may immediately request
assistance from the police liaison officer or a peace officer.
B. Removal
By Police Liaison Officer or Peace Officer
If a student with an IEP
engages in conduct which endangers or may endanger the health, safety, or
property of the student, other students, staff members, or school property, the
school building’s crisis team, building administrator, or the building administrator’s
designee, may request that the police liaison officer or a peace officer remove
the student from school grounds.
If a student with an IEP
is restrained or removed from a classroom, school building, or school grounds
by a peace officer at the request of a school administrator or school staff
person during the school day twice in a 30-day period, the student’s IEP team
must meet to determine if the student’s IEP is adequate or if additional
evaluation is needed.
Whether or not a student
with an IEP engages in conduct which endangers or may endanger the health,
safety, or property of the student, other students, staff members, or school
property, school district personnel may report a crime committed by a student
with an IEP to appropriate authorities.
If the school district reports a crime committed by a student with an
IEP, school personnel shall transmit copies of the special education and
disciplinary records of the student for consideration by appropriate
authorities to whom it reports the crime, to the extent that the transmission
is permitted by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the
Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and school district’s policy,
Protection and Privacy of Pupil Records.
The fact that a student
with an IEP is covered by special education law does not prevent state law
enforcement and judicial authorities from exercising their responsibilities
with regard to the application of federal and state law to crimes committed by
a student with an IEP.
C. Reasonable
Force Permitted
1. In
removing a student with an IEP from school grounds, a building administrator,
other crisis team members, or the police liaison officer or other agents of the
school district, whether or not members of a crisis team, may use reasonable
force when it is necessary under the circumstances to correct or restrain a
student or prevent bodily harm or death to another
2. In
removing a student with an IEP from school grounds, police liaison officers and
school district personnel are further prohibited from engaging in the following
conduct:
a. Corporal
punishment prohibited by Minnesota Statutes, section 121A.58;
b.. Requiring a child to assume and maintain
a specified physical position, activity, or posture that induces physical pain;
c. Totally
or partially restricting a child’s senses as punishment;
d. Denying
or restricting a child’s access to equipment and devices such as walkers,
wheelchairs, hearing aids, and communication boards that facilitate the child’s
functioning except when temporarily removing the equipment or device is needed
to prevent injury to the child or others or serious damage to the equipment or
device, in which case the equipment or device shall be returned to the child as
soon as possible;
e. Interacting
with a child in a manner that constitutes sexual abuse, neglect, or physical
abuse under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 260E;
f. Physical holding (as defined in Minnesota
Statutes, section 125A.0941) that restricts or impairs a child’s ability to
breathe, restricts or impairs
a child’s ability to communicate distress, places pressure or weight on a
child’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen,
or results in straddling a child’s torso;
g. Withholding regularly scheduled meals
or water; and/or
h. Denying a child access to toilet
facilities.
3. Any reasonable force used under Minnesota Statutes, sections 121A.582;
609.06, subdivision 1; and 609.379 which intends to hold a child immobile or
limit a child's movement where body contact is the only source of physical
restraint or confines a child alone in a room from which egress is barred shall
be reported to the Minnesota Department of Education as a restrictive
procedure, including physical holding or seclusion used by an unauthorized or
untrained staff person.
D. Parental
Notification
The
building administrator or designee shall make reasonable efforts to notify the
student’s parent or guardian of the student’s removal from school grounds as
soon as possible following the removal.
E. Continued
Removals; Review of IEP
Continued and repeated
use of the removal process described herein must be reviewed in the development
of the individual student’s IEP or IIIP.
F. Effect
of Policy in an Emergency; Use of Restrictive Procedures
A student with an IEP
may be removed in accordance with this policy regardless of whether the
student’s conduct would create an emergency.
If the school district
seeks to remove a student with an IEP from school grounds under this policy due
to behaviors that constitute an emergency and the student’s IEP, IIIP, or
behavior intervention plan authorizes the use of one or more restrictive
procedures, the crisis team may employ those restrictive procedures, in
addition to any reasonable force that may be necessary, to facilitate the
student’s removal from school grounds, as long as the crisis team members who
are implementing the restrictive procedures have received the training required
by Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.0942, subdivision 5, and otherwise comply
with the requirements of section 125A.0942.
G. Reporting
to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)
Annually,
stakeholders may recommend, as necessary, to the Commissioner of MDE
(Commissioner) specific and measurable implementation and outcome goals for
reducing the use of restrictive procedures.
The Commissioner must submit to the Legislature a report on districts’
progress in reducing the use of restrictive procedures that recommends how to
further reduce these procedures and eliminate the use of seclusion. By January 15, April 15, July 15, and
October 15 of each year, districts must report, in a form and manner determined
by the Commissioner, about individual students who have been secluded. By July 15 each year, districts must report
summary data. The summary data must include information on the use of
restrictive procedures for the prior school year, July 1 through June 30,
including the use of reasonable force by school personnel that is consistent
with the definition of physical holding or seclusion of a child with a
disability.
Legal References: Minn. Stat. Ch.
13 (Minnesota Government Data Practices Act)
Minn.
Stat. §§ 121A.40-121A.56 (Minnesota Pupil Fair Dismissal Act)
Minn.
Stat. § 121A.582 (Student Discipline; Reasonable Force)
Minn.
Stat. § 121A.61 (Discipline and Removal of Students from Class)
Minn.
Stat. § 121A.67 (Removal by Police Officer)
Minn.
Stat. §§ 125A.094-125A.0942 (Restrictive Procedures for Children with
Disabilities)
Minn.
Stat. § 609.06 (Authorized Use of Force)
Minn. Stat.
§ 609.379 (Permitted Actions)
20 U.S.C. § 1232g et seq. (Family
Educational Rights and Privacy (FERPA))
20 U.S.C. § 1415(k)(6) (Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act)
34
C.F.R. § 300.535 (Referral to and Action by Law Enforcement and Judicial
Authorities)
Cross References: MSBA/MASA
Model Policy 506 (Student Discipline)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 507 (Corporal
Punishment)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 515 (Protection
and Privacy of Pupil Records)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 525 (Violence
Prevention)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 806 (Crisis Management Policy)