Discipline Reports

[Mickey2255]

I really appreciate all the help everyone has offered since my post Saturday. This is an awesome group of people!

Now, another question! I had asked school for a complete copy of difficult child's file. One of my main reasons for asking was for the discipline reports - I knew he had been suspended more than 10 cummulative days. When I got the file there were NO discipline reports of any kind prior to 1/2007, just the three from the first part of this calendar year. I questioned the assistant principal in an email and she replied via email (cc'd to the principal) that difficult child had not been suspended in the first half of the school year but listed two dates when he had been sent home early and one date where he spent most of the day in the office.

I'm perfectly happy if they feel no need to include these records in his permanent file but they are obviously tracking this information SOMEWHERE and surely I have a right to see it - don't I? If I'm trying to build a case for including ADHD/ODD in his IEP and get them to quit suspending him, this information could prove useful!

And while you are already reading - anyone have problems with Clonidine causing dizziness? difficult child has been on it for two months and all the sudden is having dizzy spells. We didn't give him any today and he was better but said he still felt that way a little bit...I thought it might have affected his blood pressure too much but it should be out of his system by now.

THANKS!
Michelle

 

[Martie]

Michelle,

It can be dangerous to D/C drugs suddenly. You will get better advice re: medications on the General Forum, so please post there for drug discussions.

There should be records in your difficult child's TEMP file that include such things as calling you to pick him up; spending the day in the office, etc. Not to make you paranoid, but your SD seems to take a very casual view of the law. You have an absolute right to his entire school record.

Martie

 

[smallworld]

Clonidine can cause dizziness from low blood pressure. BUT, as Martie indicated, it can be very dangerous to discontinue Clonidine precipitously because it can cause a spike in blood pressure that has landed some kids in the hospital. Please talk to the prescribing physician ASAP before making any changes in medications yourself.

 

[lordhelpme]

i saw in a recent letter that my sd did not list any of the inschool suspensions as suspensions and that they also listed 4 days as left early when they are the ones who called for me to pick him up(a suspension in my opinion). i think it is their way of getting around being over the 10 days.

i would request in writting all records that include your difficult child including attendance records for the school and teacher notes. it is a pain in the for them to gather and copy but tough if they are not giving you what you asked for.

 

[Kjs]

I was told by the school that there are two files/records. His academic file and his behavior file. I was told that his academic file will follow him on to high school, but the behavior file will not. I sure hope that is true.

 

[Sheila]

School districts can have records everywhere: District office, Special Education office, campus, teachers, nurses office, school counselor's office, etc.

Even emails can be part of the educational record. "If you check the school district's e-mail policy, it almost certainly states specifically that e-mail received through the district is the property of the district and reserves the right of the school district to monitor employee e-mails, thus eliminating the "not accessible to any other person" requirement. That is in addition to the fact that this is a two party communication as mentioned before."


The length of time a sd must keep records depends on the type record. Ex: Special Education records in TX must be kept for 7 years. Some routine discipline records are purged at the close of the school year.

Couple of resources:

FERPA by US Dept of Education: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html

Learning About the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) http://www.fetaweb.com/04/ferpa.summary.htm