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Letter 32: Documentation of Informal Disciplinary Removals

When to Use It

Send this letter the same week the calls start. “Come pick him up.” “He needs to go home and cool off.” “Keep her home tomorrow until we can meet.” None of these come with a suspension form. All of them are disciplinary removals when the school shortens your child’s school day because of behavior. The U.S. Department of Education has said so directly: informal removals count, whether or not the school writes them up (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.530, 300.536; U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Questions and Answers: Addressing the Needs of Children with Disabilities and IDEA’s Discipline Provisions, OSEP QA 22-02 (July 19, 2022)).

The count matters because 10 cumulative school days is the tripwire. Past 10 days, services must continue during further removals (34 C.F.R. § 300.530(b)(2), (d)), and removals that form a pattern can be a change of placement requiring a manifestation determination review (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.536, 300.530(e)). A pick-up call that is never logged never reaches 10. This letter builds the count the school did not keep.

Send it to: the principal and the district’s director of special education.