Alternative EducationAcademic Excellence :

Clarification of Procedures for Dismissal of Students from a State Approved Alternative

The purpose of this letter is to clarify the procedures by which a student may be dismissed from a SAAP as a result of disciplinary/attendance issues or due to the student’s lack of academic progress. Please review these procedures with your staff to assure your programs’ compliance with federal and state mandates. Failure to do so may result in harm to students and/or program service and financial consequences. MDE staff want to provide assistance to staff for alternative programs that service students’ unique needs.

Background

During an annual review of the dismissal information on the disciplinary incident reports for the 2002-03 school year, a discrepancy was found in a report from a state approved alternative program. These programs include alternative learning centers (ALCs), alternative programs, and private contract alternative schools. After looking into the discrepancy, additional information was provided that other State Approved Alternative Programs (SAAPs) have also utilized an unofficial dismissal policy to have students “take a break” from their program for a set number of days without ensuring that the students receive educational services at another location.

One of the reasons a student is accepted into a SAAP is because both the SAAP and the student believe the alternative learning year program will assist the student in achieving academic success. If a student has disciplinary attendance issues and/or fails to make the educational progress as outlined in the student’s continual learning plan, the disciplinary violations and/or the lack of academic success must be addressed as follows:

Discipline/Attendance Policies must comply with the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act

The SAAP cannot discipline a student by asking or directing the student to take some time off for a certain number of days, and then come back and try again.

If a student fails to abide by the SAAP’s discipline and/or attendance policies, the SAAP must comply with the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act (PFDA) if it wishes to dismiss a student. The PFDA, found in Minn. Stat. §§ 121A.41 through 121A.56, can be accessed at the MDE’s or the Minnesota State Legislature’s website.

A dismissal occurs when a student is subject to an out-of-school suspension or is expelled from school. A student may be suspended for a maximum of 10 school days for one incident or 15 school days if the SAAP initiates an expulsion action. For suspensions of more than five consecutive days, the SAAP is responsible to provide alternative education services to the student.

Academic Progress and the Student Academic Learning Year Plan

When a student is accepted into a SAAP, a continual learning year program must be developed with the participation of the student, parent or guardian, teachers and staff. The plan must include the following:

the pupil’s learning objectives and experiences, including courses or credits the pupil plans to complete each year and, for a secondary pupil, the graduation requirements the student must complete;

the assessment measurements used to evaluate a pupil’s objectives;

requirements for grade level or other appropriate progression; and

for pupils generating more than one average daily membership in a given grade, an indication of which objectives were unmet.

Minn. Stat. § 124D.128, Subd. 3.

If a student has not made academic progress as set forth in the student’s learning year plan, the student and the SAAP need to reevaluate whether the alternative program is appropriate for the student. The plan must be specific as to the students learning year objectives, the assessment measurements used to evaluate those objectives, and the requirements the student must meet to make academic progress. The plan may also inform the student that a consequence of non-academic progress may be termination from the program.

If the student continues to not make academic progress as outlined in the learning year plan, the student can be terminated if that consequence is set forth in the plan. The SAAP would then need to formally dismiss the student from its program rather than place the student on a hold status. Note: the SAAP may have a policy that allows a student who has been terminated to reapply after a set period of time has elapsed.

Additional Safeguards for Special Education Students

For students receiving special education services, who are placed at a SAAP by the individualized education plan (IEP) team, the decision to change the student’s placement would occur through the IEP process. The IEP team would review the student’s progress on his or her IEP goals to determine whether another placement would be appropriate. In those cases, the IEP team must make a new placement before a special education student is terminated from an alternative program.

SAAP Responsibilities Prior to Termination

To ensure that students and parents understand the SAAP’s expectations of its students, written policies and procedures should be provided to the students and parents upon admission to the alternative program. The student’s continual learning plan must incorporate the relevant expectations. In addition, a SAAP and a student may agree to an individual behavior or academic contract to address specific concerns. The SAAP should work with its school district to develop those policies and procedures.

Prior to the termination, the SAAP has the responsibility to notify the student and the student’s parents that the termination will take place on a specific date, and that the student’s resident district is obligated to provide educational services to the student. The resident district should be copied on that letter. The letter should include the name and phone number of a staff member at the resident district whom the parent can contact about setting up educational services. In addition, the SAAP must contact the student’s resident district in advance to notify them of the termination so that the resident district can make arrangements to readmit the student into one of its programs. The SAAP may also provide the student with information about other programs that might benefit the student. The student would then have the option of remaining in the traditional school or to reapply to the SAAP after the time specified in the SAAP termination document

Contacts for Information:

For any continual learning plan questions, please contact Glory Kibbel at 651.582.8586 or email at glory.kibbel@state.mn.us.

For any further disciplinary questions or questions regarding this memorandum, please contact Marikay Canaga Litzau at 651.582.8459 or email at marikay.litzau@state.mn.us.

JP

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