ON ALLEGED INCIDENTS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN HILLSBOROUGH
By Bob Witanek 908-881-5275, Belle Mead http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org 10/22/2005
In the October 20 article about school violence in Hillsborough, The Superintendent of Schools cited statistics on alleged infractions by children with disabilities. The news account of the superintendent report could have the effect of stigmatizing classified children, to generate fear of such children and to exclude them from the mainstream. Disciplinary infractions by mainstreamed children with disabilities can result from schools’ failure to live up to promises to support these kids in the mainstream, rather than something incurable about the children involved.
Federal law under IDEA requires that when evaluating alleged incidents involving children with disabilities, districts take into account the nature of a behavioral disability when determining punishment or if more appropriate support services are needed. The report by the Superintendent, as it appeared in the paper, did not give any such consideration.
Districts that have so-called “no tolerance” policies place equal blame on the perpetrator of an incident and one who answers a physical assault with defensive physical action. Some of the incidents involving the students with challenges may have been the result of a child responding to an assault.
Some children with disabilities who have trouble controlling their responses to their environment can be easily provoked by verbal taunting. Typical peers can push those buttons that sometimes cause an outburst reaction. Children with challenges are often held responsible for such conflicts because they could have difficulty communicating their side of a dispute.
Based on federal changes to the IDEA law which covers special education, changes to state code are currently being considered that would make it easier to suspend and expel students with disabilities. The changes would undermine rights of students with disabilities and their parents in several other areas as well. However, NJ can opt to keep stronger protections in place and The Student Advocate Website is coordinating a petition drive to do just that. You can sign the petition by going to http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org .
Meanwhile, I urge superintendents and newspapers to provide proper context when presenting statistics regarding children with disabilities and alleged incidents. It is especially important in a time in which the rights of these children have come under attack.
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School violence jumps for disabled students |
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While
violence, vandalism and substance abuse in Hillsborough schools dropped by
15 percent in the last two school years, students with disabilities involved
in an offense either as offenders or victims increased dramatically,
according to the violence and vandalism report for the 2004-2005 school
year. |
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