Classroom disruption: the federal Individuals With Disabilities Act, up for renewal, adds to schoolhouse violence

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 11, 1995 | by Stephen Goode

The IDEA as it now stands also requires schools to pay for the hearing aids, eyeglasses and other needs of their disabled students, a cost educators want placed on state health agencies rather than the educational system, says Resnick.

Congress may find some way to grant teachers and others in the classroom more protection -- at least when it comes to school violence. Last year a bill that allows schools to suspend for 45 days disabled students who bring firearms to class was supported by the Clinton administration and passed by the House and Senate. This was a major alteration in the IDEA, and it comes despite protests from advocates for the disabled. School officials say they want the 45-day suspension extended to disabled students who bring to school other weapons, such as knives, brass knuckles and martialarts gear. Many states, some of them fearful of a rise in the number of lawsuits from nondisabled students harmed in classrooms by the disabled, are taking matters into their own hands. Virginia authorities, for example, recently asked a federal court to overturn a July 3 ruling by Secretary of Education Richard Riley that the commonwealth violates the IDEA when it suspends violent students who threaten others in the classroom.

Whatever happens, Boston's John Brennan may have the last word on the bottom-line issue at hand. "When kids are disruptive, you remove them," he says. "You give the other kids a break."