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113.1. Behavior Management for Exceptional Students

The Board acknowledges that conduct is closely related to learning and that an effective instructional program requires a caring, sensitive and orderly school environment. All students are entitled to a safe school environment free from restrictions or injuries caused by the inappropriate behaviors of others.

The use of effective and appropriate strategies for managing and controlling student behavior enhances
educational success for students. Optimal learning outcomes are achieved in classrooms where a student's opportunity for learning and building self-esteem and individual responsibilities are maximized. The management of student behavior for exceptional students in the Springfield Township School District is predicated on the following principles:

1. Each eligible student is entitled to receive his/her education in the least restrictive environment.
2. All students are entitled to an environment free from restrictions or injuries caused by the challenging behaviors of others.
3. Effective behavior management is contingent upon clear, direct, concise communications among school, students, and family.
4. Staff development is critical for a behavior management system to be effective.
5. The cooperative efforts of the schools, interagency supports, community resources, and family involvement are all essential to meeting the behavioral needs of eligible students.

Note: Exceptional students includes all categories of special education including gifted students. Eligible students are all students with an IEP, as they are identified in Chapter 342, but they do not include students with only a gifted designation.

Exceptional students are protected under the behavior management regulations of Chapter 12 and Chapter 14, Section 14.36 and in the Special Education Standards, Chapter 342, Section 342.36. Any eligible student who exhibits behavior problems which interfere with the student's ability to learn must have a plan of behavior management which is included in the exceptional student's Individual Education Plan(IEP).

The plan must be designed and based upon the following:

1. a focus on positive rather than negative measures;
2. the use of interventions that are the least intrusive;
3. the use of a behavior management program rather than aversive techniques, restraints or discipline procedures; and
4. the use of only those techniques for which the staff has been adequatel11/08/2006>

Students enrolled in special education programs are subject to the same policies and regulations that govern general education students. Each student shall adhere to the Student Code of Conduct, school district rules and regulations, and shall submit to such disciplinary measures as are appropriate for an infraction of those rules. The rules govern student conduct in school activities and during the time spent in travel to and from school and school related activities. Such rules require that students:

1. conform to reasonable standards of socially acceptable behavior;
2. respect the rights, person, and property of others;
3. preserve the degree of order necessary to the educational program in which they are engaged; and
4. obey constituted authority and respond positively to those who hold that authority.

Parents or guardians will be notified of the requirement for all students to adhere to the Student Code of Conduct, which governs all general education and special education students.

Springfield Township School District recognizes that behavior management is an integral part of educational programming. The two must complement each other. When specialized intervention for an exceptional student is required, program development must adhere to the following tenets:

1. Behavioral concerns will be addressed in the student's IEP.
2. Positive rather than negative measures will be used in designing interventions.
3. The least restrictive alternative necessary to foster and maintain an appropriate change in behaviors will be used.
4. Behavior management plans must be designed to increase, maintain, and generalize behavior skills in socially and/or task appropriate ways.
5. Appropriate replacement behaviors will be identified.
6. Instruction in social/adaptive skills to increase independence and functioning in the community will be provided.
7. Procedures will be used which can assist in normalizing consequences to a level and type found in the community.
8. A team approach to monitor and modify the effectiveness of existing student programs, via ongoing review of the IEP, will be utilized.
9. A team process will be used involving all appropriate staff when decisions are made regarding a change in placement.

Limitations

As a general principle, techniques for the development, maintenance and change of selected behaviors shall be attempted prior to the use of more intrusive or restraining measures.

Restraints to control acute or episodic aggressive behavior may be used only when the student is acting in a manner which constitutes a clear and present danger to herself/himself, to other students or employees, and only when less restrictive measures and techniques have proven to be ineffective. The use of restraints to control the aggressive behavior of an individual student shall result in a meeting of the IEP team to review the current IEP for appropriateness and effectiveness. The use of restraints may not be included in the IEP, be employed as punishment,
be applied for the convenience of staff, or be used as a substitute for an educational program.

Mechanical restraints, which are used to control involuntary movement or lack of muscular control of students when due to organic causes or conditions, may be employed only when specified by a medical professional qualified to make this determination and be agreed to by the student's parents/guardians. Mechanical restraints shall be used only to prevent a student from injuring himself or others or to promote normative body positioning and physical functioning.

The following aversive techniques for handling behavior are considered inappropriate and may not be used in the district's education programs:

1. corporal punishment;
2. punishment for a manifestation of a student's disability;
3. locked rooms, locked boxes, other locked structures or spaces from which the student cannot readily exit;
4. noxious substances;
5. deprivation of basic human rights, such as withholding meals, water or fresh air;
6. treatment of a demeaning nature;
7. electric shock;
8. the application of serial suspensions;
9. methods implemented by untrained personnel; and
10. methods which have not been outlined in the student's Individual Education Plan.

The school district has the primary responsibility for ensuring that behavior management programs are in accordance with this policy and the State Board of Education's Chapter 14 regulations relating to special education. The school district is also responsible for the training of personnel for the use of specific procedures, methods and techniques, for having a written policy on the use of behavior management, and for obtaining parental consent prior to the use of highly restraining or intrusive procedures. Procedures in the form of an Administrative Rule to implement this policy will be adopted.