The manifestation determination meeting is an IEP a meeting to determine whether a student with a disability may be expelled from school or have their placement changed for more than 10 school days for misconduct. It consists of the school district, parent/guardian/other education rights holder and relevant members of the student’s IEP team as determined by the school district and parent/guardian/other education rights holder and must be held within 10 school days of the school’s decision to expel the student or change their placement. At the meeting, the IEP team reviews the relevant information from the student’s file, including the IEP and any information from teachers and the parents/guardians/other education rights holders, and then decides two things:
- Was the behavior caused by, or did it have “a direct and substantial relationship” to the student’s disability; and
- Was the behavior the direct result of the district’s failure to implement the IEP?[1]
If the team answers “YES” to either question, the student cannot be expelled. Also, any placement change requires either the consent of the parent/guardian/other education rights holder or an ALJ’s order. If the team determines that the behavior is a manifestation of the student’s disability, the student has the right to go back to their original placement unless the IEP team decides that a change of placement is appropriate. The school must also 1. do a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) for the student unless an FBA was conducted before the misconduct, and implement a behavior intervention plan (BIP) to address the student’s behavior; or 2. If the student has a BIP in place, modify that BIP to address the behavior.[2] If the team answers “NO” to both questions, the student can be referred for expulsion.