US NEWS: OR lawsuit over shorter school day for SPED kids with "behavioral issues"

Mar 7, 2019, US News: In Oregon, a Lawsuit Aimed at Supporting Disabled Students A lawsuit charges that shortening school days to deal with behavioral issues leads to the unnecessary segregation of students with disabilities. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-03-07/oregon-lawsuit-aims-to-support-students-with-disabilities A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND lawsuit charging that the state of Oregon has failed to provide full school days to students with mental, emotional and behavioral disabilities could create a model for other states to stop the practice of shortening school days. The class action lawsuit – filed Jan. 22 in U.S. district court by Disability Rights Oregon and other groups – says Oregon violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by the "unnecessary segregation" of children with disabilities. The lawsuit alleges that schools in Oregon, mainly in rural areas, send students home on a regular, sometimes daily basis, for all or parts of the school day, citing behavior issues or safety concerns stemming from behavioral, mental and emotional disorders such as autism. Joel Greenberg, a Disability Rights Oregon attorney, says the practice often makes disabled students feel "that they don't belong in school." The problem usually occurs in rural districts that often do not have the resources to hire behavioral specialists or specially trained staff members to help students diagnosed with mild or severe autism or other disabilities. … An IEP team would create such a plan if a student has health issues that prevent her or him from full-day attendance or is not able to "regulate their behavior in a way that is safe" during a regular school day, she says, and it would include a process to reintegrate the student into a full day…. Still, Greenberg says, "What the children learned from this experience is that they don't belong in school. And they take that hard."… The problem is not limited to Oregon. Advocates and attorneys in other states, including North and South Dakota, Montana, Maine, New Hampshire, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington state and California, say they have received complaints from parents whose children's schools days have been shortened without following proper procedures. … Diane Smith Howard, an attorney with the National Disability Rights Network, says the Department of Education does not require states to report the number of students given shortened days, unlike suspensions and expulsions, so it is hard to prove a systemic problem in many states. "This is a practice that has swelled in darkness," Howard says. … Special education attorney Steve Aleman says the Oregon case has created a "buzz" around the issue, which has empowered parents in other states, such as Texas, to start advocating. …