From the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law:
“”Kiera” is a 13-year-old 7th grader placed in a segregated classroom for students with emotional disabilities. (Kiera is a client of Maryland Disability Law Center; I have changed her name and altered details to protect her confidentiality.) She has been diagnosed with a mood disorder, a mild to moderate intellectual disability, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to her psychologist, Kiera’s various disabilities affect her impulse control, perception of risk, and ability to regulate her emotions. Last spring, while having a bad day at school, Kiera created a disturbance in her classroom by using profanity and refusing to follow instructions. Unable to manage Kiera while attending to the other students, her teacher called for the school resource officer. The officer entered the classroom, armed and in uniform, to remove Kiera. He grabbed her by her arm to escort her out of class; she reacted by kicking the officer in the shin and attempting to run away. The officer responded by charging Kiera with assault on a police officer, disturbing school activities, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. Kiera was handcuffed and taken to a juvenile detention center. When she returned to school the following day, she was issued a five-day suspension for the incident. Although the school determined that Kiera’s conduct was a manifestation of her disability and her public defender attempted to use this information to defend against the charges in court, the court found Kiera delinquent. She remains under the court’s supervision.
Contrast Kiera’s experience with an alternative scenario. Imagine that instead of calling the school resource officer, the teacher was able to call a trained behavioral aide or mobile crisis staff experienced in de-escalation, knowledgeable regarding the impact of Kiera’s disabilities on her behavior, and present in the school with the explicit purpose of assisting teachers and students in the event of crisis. Imagine this person arriving to the classroom, not with an authoritative and disciplinary presence, but rather with a calming and supportive approach. Consider how the teacher, Kiera, and the other students may have been affected by the alternative and the value to the school’s climate and the court system in avoiding the former scenario.
Shifting the practice of Maryland schools to the latter scenario is among the goals of Maryland Disability Law Center’s juvenile justice project. Here I discuss the various advocacy strategies Maryland Disability Law Center has explored in our continuing effort to effectuate this change; our quest for and use of data on suspensions and school-based arrests of students with disabilities; and our collaborative work with strategic partners to ensure students like Kiera remain in the classroom with the supports and accommodations they need to thrive.”
Read the rest here.
