Policy 508-R Use Of Peace Officers To Remove Students With Or Without Individual Education Plans From School Grounds Regulations

For purposes of this policy, the following terms have the meaning given them in this section:

A. “Crisis team” means a group of persons, which may include teachers and non-teaching school personnel, selected by the building administrator in each school building who have received crisis intervention training and are responsible for becoming actively involved with resolving crises.  The building administrator or designee shall serve as the leader of the crisis team.

B. “Emergency” means a situation where immediate intervention is needed to protect a child or other individual from physical injury.

C. “Peace officer” means an employee or an elected or appointed official of a political subdivision or law enforcement agency who is licensed by the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, charged with the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of general criminal laws of the state and who has the full power of arrest.  The term “peace officer” includes a person who serves as a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, a police officer, or a state patrol trooper.

D. “School resource officer” (SRO) is a peace officer who, pursuant to an agreement between the school district and a political subdivision or law enforcement agency, is assigned to a school building for all or a portion of the school day to provide law enforcement assistance and support to the building administration and to promote school safety, security, and positive relationships with students.

E. The phrase “remove the student from school grounds” is the act of securing the person of a student with an IEP and escorting that student from the school building or school activity at which the student with an IEP is located.

F. “Student with an IEP” or “the student” means a student who is eligible to receive special education and related services pursuant to the terms of an IEP or an individual interagency intervention plan (IIIP).

G. All other terms and phrases used in this policy shall be defined in accordance with applicable state and federal law or ordinary and customary usage.
 

A. If the behavior of a student with or without an IEP escalates to the point where the student’s behavior endangers or may endanger the health, safety, or property of the student, other students, staff, or school property, a building’s crisis team may be summoned. The crisis team may attempt to de-escalate the student’s behavior by using strategies in which the team is trained and/or, if a student has an IEP, strategies or procedures that may be described in this IEP (or positive behavior support plan). When such measures fail, or when the crisis team determines that the student’s behavior continues to endanger the health, safety, or property of the student, other students, staff members, or school property, the crisis team may recommend to the administrator or designee that the student be removed from school grounds.

B. If the student’s behavior cannot be safely managed, school personnel may immediately request assistance from a school resource officer or a peace officer. When possible, school personnel should consult with a building administrator prior to requesting assistance from a school resource or peace officer.
 

A. If a student with or without an IEP engages in conduct that endangers or may endanger the health, safety, or property of the student, other students, staff members, or school property, a building administrator or designee may request that the school resource officer or a peace officer remove the student from school grounds.

B. If a student with an IEP is restrained or removed from a classroom, school building, or school grounds by a peace officer at the request of a school administrator or school staff person during the school day twice in a 30-day period, the student’s IEP team must meet to determine if the student’s IEP is adequate or if additional evaluation is needed.

C. Whether a student with or without an IEP engages in conduct that endangers the health, safety, or property of the student, other students, staff members, or school property, school district personnel may report a crime committed by a student to appropriate authorities. If the school district reports a crime committed by a student with an IEP, school personnel shall transmit copies of the special education and disciplinary records of the student for consideration by appropriate authorities to whom it reports the crime to the extent that the transmission is permitted by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, and school district policy (Student Records). 

D. A student’s IEP does not prevent state law enforcement and/or judicial authorities from exercising their authority with respect to the application of federal and state laws to crimes committed by a student with an IEP.
 

A. If a student with or without an IEP engages in conduct that endangers or may endanger the health, In removing a student with or without an IEP from school grounds, the school resource officer or peace officer may use reasonable force when necessary to correct or restrain a student or prevent bodily harm or death to another or to the student. School resource officers are prohibited from engaging in the following when removing students from school grounds:        

1. Requiring the student to assume and maintain a specified physical position, activity, or posture that induces physical pain as an aversive procedure;

2. Presenting intense sounds, lights, or other sensory stimuli as an aversive stimulus;

3. Using noxious smell, taste, substance, or spray as an aversive stimulus;

4. Denying or restricting the student’s access to equipment and devices such as hearing aids and communication boards that facilitate the student’s functioning except temporarily when the student is perceived to be destroying or damaging equipment or devices;

5. Using faradic skin shock;

6. Restricting, totally or partially, the student’s auditory or visual sense, except that study carrels may be used as an academic intervention;

7. Withholding regularly scheduled meals or water; 

8. Denying the student access to toilet facilities.

B. Any reasonable force used under Minnesota Statutes, sections 121A.582; 609.06, subdivision 1; and 609.379 which intends to hold a child immobile or limit a child's movement where body contact is the only source of physical restraint or confines a child alone in a room from which egress is barred shall be reported to the Minnesota Department of Education as a restrictive procedure, including physical holding or seclusion used by an unauthorized or untrained staff person.
 

A building administrator or designee shall make reasonable efforts to notify the student’s parents or guardians of the student’s removal from school grounds as soon as practical following the student’s removal.

If building personnel seek to remove a student with an IEP from school grounds under this policy due to behaviors that constitute an emergency, and the student’s IEP authorizes the use of one or more restrictive procedures, the crisis team or other school personnel trained to work with the student may employ restrictive procedures, in addition to any reasonable force that may be necessary to facilitate the student’s removal from school grounds by a police liaison officer or peace officer. If a restrictive procedure is used in an emergency and is not included in a student’s IEP, the student’s IEP team shall meet as soon as possible, but no later than five (5) school days after emergency procedures have commenced, to modify the student’s IEP.

• Adopted: April 5, 2004
• Amended: October 13, 2014
• Amended: August 28, 2023
• Last Reviewed: August 28, 2023

• Policy 508 - Use of Peace Officers to Remove Students with or without Individual Education Plans from School Grounds