My close friend’s son is 13 years old and has ADHD with an IEP in place. Yesterday, she received an email from the school’s 6th grade team informing her and her husband that their son had to be sent to the principal’s office because he had used an inappropriate word during an argument with another boy. Now her son has to spend every lunch and recess in the principal’s office for the rest of the week and not only that, he is now excluded from the year-end rollerblading field trip because apparently the school’s policy is that if you are sent to the principal’s office in May or June, they are unwelcome at the year-end trip.
While my friend understands that her son’s language was inappropriate and he should face appropriate consequences, she feels that this is a very unfair policy because of the nature of his diagnosis. She knows how impulsivity affects his behaviour and how big a part ADHD plays in that. This is not to say that she feels that he should be let off the hook, but she feels that if this incident had happened 3 months ago, he wouldn’t have been punished so. She has also said that he has only attended 1 year-end outing in the 6 years that he has been in school. He is not a “bad” kid - far from it, but his impulsivity really seems to get the better of him. My sense is that the school is dangling this big carrot of a year-end outing in front of the kids and taking it away if the student messes up in any way. I feel that is so unfair for someone such as my friend’s son.
Does anyone know if his IEP should safeguard against situations like this? Are there any SPED laws that state that this is an unacceptable practice? Or is it the school district that sets whatever policy is in place?
I’d really appreciate any references to articles/documents that address this sort of thing. Thanks so much for any advice.