School & Education

If your child comes home and tells you that they have been suspended, call the school to get more information. If you do not get a written notice right away, ask for a written notice of suspension A temporary stop of a law . The law says the school must give you this. The notice of suspension must give you the reasons for the suspension, the number of days your child will be suspended, information on the right to appeal A request to change a court's decision the suspension, and details about the incident.

You may choose to appeal A request to change a court's decision the suspension A temporary stop of a law . However, the appeal may not take place before the suspension ends. Look at your school's code of conduct or student handbook for the procedures on suspension appeals. If you can't find this information, ask the school administrator who sent you the notice of suspension. 

At the suspension appeal hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer , you can give reasons for disagreeing with the school’s decision to suspend your child. You can also ask the school to remove the suspension from your child’s school record. Winning the appeal should prevent an expulsion hearing for the same suspected misconduct. Plus, removing the suspension from the student’s record may reduce the chance that the student will be expelled in the future for other suspected misconduct. It may also increase the chances of getting an alternative to expulsion (like the SMART program in Chicago) for future acts of misconduct.​

You should ask for schoolwork for your child during the suspension A temporary stop of a law . This makes it easier for your child to keep up in school. Illinois law requires that schools provide suspended students an opportunity to complete missed schoolwork, tests, and quizzes for equal credit. Don't wait until your child's return from suspension to ask teachers for this work. 

Keep track of each suspension A temporary stop of a law . Note the dates, length of time, and reasons for each suspension. If your child is suspended for more than 10 days in the same school year, go over your notes to see if the suspensions look like a pattern of suspensions. If you think there is a pattern of suspensions that total more than 10 days in the same school year, your child is entitled to a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) meeting.

Your child should have a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) if your child’s behavior is keeping your child or others from learning. The BIP would be part of your child’s IEP or 504 Plan, so review those documents to see if they already have one. If your child does not currently have a BIP, you should ask the school to do a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). An FBA involves collecting behavior data over several weeks. Based on the FBA, the IEP or 504 Plan team creates a BIP to help with your child’s behavior.

If your child already has a BIP, and you think your child’s BIP needs to be changed because your child is continuing to have problems at school, you should ask for an IEP or 504 Plan meeting.