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Elementary principal outlines discipline policy and special-education safeguards
Summary
The elementary principal presented a review of discipline practice emphasizing proactive instruction, tiers of intervention, limits on principal suspensions (maximum five consecutive days), and federal protections for students with disabilities including manifestation-determination reviews and requirements for behavior-intervention plans.
Kelly, the elementary principal, presented an extensive overview of elementary-discipline practices and legal safeguards for students with disabilities, describing both everyday classroom strategies and formal disciplinary procedures.
"If I'm conferring a suspension on a student, I cannot suspend a student for more than 5 consecutive days," Kelly said, describing the limit on principal-level suspensions and explaining that longer removals require a superintendent hearing and additional due-process protections. Kelly emphasized that the district seeks to prioritize instructional strategies, tiered interventions through MTSS, and documentation so that disciplinary decisions are equitable and educational rather than purely punitive.
Kelly walked the board through several hypothetical scenarios that illustrated how manifestation-determination reviews (MDRs) and disciplinary-change-in-placement provisions operate under federal IDEA and state regulation. In one scenario the team found behavior to be a manifestation of a student's disability; the student was returned to placement after functional assessment and revision of an individualized behavior plan. In another scenario, staff determined the behavior was not a manifestation and the student remained subject to standard disciplinary procedures while still entitled to continuity of special-education services.
The principal underscored the district's obligations: conduct MDRs when required, ensure parents receive timely written notice (within 24 hours for suspensions), and preserve access to instruction while a student is removed. Kelly also noted that the committee on special education (CSE) must be involved when a disciplinary change in placement is at issue and that any finding that the district failed to implement an IEP triggers remedial obligations.
Board members asked clarifying questions about repeat offenders, self-contained classrooms, and how manifestation determinations might lead to concurrent CSE decisions; speakers confirmed those transitions are handled through established committee processes and are not unilateral administrative changes.
Next steps: Kelly said the elementary discipline committee (a voluntary staff group) will continue work on action plans and that the administration will return with further updates and materials available to parents.
