Dive Brief:
- Following findings of discriminatory discipline practices toward students with disabilities, Florida's Pasco County Schools has agreed to implement a number of improvements to assure compliance with federal law.
- In a joint letter sent Tuesday to the district, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said Pasco County Schools routinely used suspensions and referrals to law enforcement to respond to students’ disability-related behaviors. Rather, those behaviors could have been addressed through proper behavioral interventions and supports, the letter said.
- In response, the district has promised to appoint at least one person at each school to lead behavioral supports. The district also said it would ensure school-based threat management teams will consider the disability status of any students under review for safety concerns and whether their behavior is related to their disability.
Dive Insight:
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida found districtwide violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act — specifically in school discipline practices — between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years.
Their two-year investigation into Pasco County determined that instead of using individualized behavior intervention plans to address underlying disability-related behaviors, the district relied on "boilerplate documents" not specific to each student’s individualized disability-related needs.
Additionally, the probe found the district failed to do meaningful reviews of crisis events for students with disabilities who had repeated suspensions or referrals to law enforcement for arrest, or for initiating involuntary admissions into a mental health facility under Florida’s Baker Act. Pasco also did not require documentation of school-related law enforcement interactions.
"The District had no process to determine why the crisis events occurred and how they could be prevented in the future to ensure that students with disabilities participated equally in school," the letter to the district said.
The letter and settlement agreement acknowledged the district's willingness to make improvements and its cooperation with the investigation. The district shared more than 20,000 documents such as district discipline policies, records of behavioral supports for students with disabilities, and threat assessments.
Other remedies the district pledged include regular review of behavior intervention plans and reviews of whether certain students would benefit from a behavior assessment and individualized behavior plan.
Regarding law enforcement involvement, the district has said it will ensure school resource officers are trained to work with students with disabilities. It also said it will require staff who refer students to law enforcement to consider whether the student has a disability and whether a student's behavior manifests from their disability.
In a statement emailed to K-12 Dive on Thursday, the district said, "Though we do not agree that we engaged in any discriminatory behavior or practices, we believe in continuous improvement, and we fully cooperated during the investigation. In the spirit of cooperation, the District signed a settlement agreement with the DOJ and committed to changes in support of our continuous improvement efforts."
The statement also noted that under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the district has been identified as meeting requirements, with no significant discipline disproportionality for students with disabilities during the time of the DOJ investigation.
