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The Policies

Nationally

• The Commonwealth continues to be out of compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the areas of providing a free and appropriate public education, a least restrictive environment, and procedural safeguards.
• No federal policy exists regarding the provision of alternative education for excluded children; Massachusetts is not among the 26 states which require alternative education for excluded children.

Massachusetts

• There is no uniform discipline code or school exclusion hearing process in the Commonwealth; a youth may be expelled for shooting spitballs or carrying a weapon.
• The implementation of discipline codes and sanctions varies widely by district.
• Discipline policies are neither age appropriate (e.g. a 9 year old is held to the same level of accountability as a 17 year old); and do not offer graduated sanctions with respect to a student's age.
• There is no legal requirement for public schools in the Commonwealth to provide alternative education opportunities for excluded children regardless of the child's age.
• Expulsions are not time-Iimited: an expelled 10 year old has no legal right to re-enroll in any public school in the Commonwealth; no public school is obligated to accept the child.
• School officials meet regularly with prosecutors and police at juvenile justice community roundtables to identify youth for priority prosecution, which often results in school exclusion of the youth under discussion. It is unclear whether this practice of disclosing information violates state and federal statutory protections of students.
• School officials increasingly turn to police to remediate children's special needs.
• Some district attorneys look to schools to provide cases for prosecution.
• MCAS testing has proven that students across the Commonwealth cannot pass them. The failure rate should be read as a commentary on the quality of education children are receiving. Instead, the reaction has been to create yet another tracking system by bifurcating diplomas: one for those who pass the MCAS and one for whom only attendance is credited. The ultimate result of the implementation of MCAS will be increased rates of drop-outs. Various studies over the last 30 years have consistently demonstrated that drop-outs wind up chronically court involved and unemployed.