Alaska Suspension and Expulsion Rules for Students with Disabilities

When a child with an IEP gets in trouble at school, the rules are different. Not different in the sense of lesser consequences — different in the sense that federal law and Alaska statute create a specific procedural framework that districts must follow before removing a student with a disability from their educational placement.

Most parents don't know these rules exist until their child is already sitting at home on a suspension that may be illegal.

The 10-Day Rule

Students with disabilities can be suspended from school for up to 10 school days in a school year — cumulatively, not per incident — without triggering additional procedural requirements. A one-day suspension, a three-day suspension, and a six-day suspension add up to ten days. Once the cumulative total reaches 10 school days, a further removal may be a change of placement under IDEA; a removal beyond 10 consecutive school days is a change of placement, and a pattern of shorter removals can also qualify.

A change of placement triggers two requirements:

1. Manifestation Determination Review (MDR): The district must conduct an MDR within 10 school days of the decision to change placement after the relevant cumulative removal. The team determines whether the behavior that led to the suspension was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the student's disability, or was the result of the district's failure to implement the IEP.

2. Continued Educational Services: For a removal beyond 10 school days, the district must provide services sufficient for the student to participate in the general education curriculum and progress toward IEP goals. Students with disabilities cannot simply be sent home and left without services during that extended removal.

This applies during an expulsion or other removal that exceeds 10 school days. A student with an IEP cannot be expelled and denied all educational services during that removal.

What Counts as Removal

"Removal" under IDEA is broader than formal suspension. Repeated short-term suspensions that add up, in-school suspension in a setting where the student doesn't receive instruction, informal exclusion (being told to stay home because "it would be better"), and placement in an alternative setting can all count toward the 10-day total.

Districts sometimes use informal exclusions — calling a parent and asking them to pick up their child — without issuing a formal suspension. That day may count toward the 10-day total depending on the circumstances. If your child is informally sent home, document the date and circumstances in writing and ask the district to assess it against the cumulative total.

When Immediate Removal Is Allowed

IDEA includes a specific carve-out called a "special circumstance removal." A student with a disability can be removed to an Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) for up to 45 school days — regardless of whether the behavior is a manifestation of the disability — if the student:

• Carries a weapon to school or a school function
• Knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs at school or a school function
• Has inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person at school or a school function

Behavioral aggression, defiance, running away, property destruction, and similar behaviors that don't meet these three specific categories do not trigger the special circumstances exception.

Alaska's Restraint and Seclusion Laws

Alaska has enacted specific statutory limits on physical management that go beyond federal IDEA requirements.

Under Alaska Statute 14.33.125:

• Chemical restraints are entirely prohibited in public schools
• Mechanical restraints are entirely prohibited in public schools
• Physical restraint that restricts breathing, including prone restraint (face-down or on the stomach), is entirely prohibited

If restraint or seclusion is used in a crisis, the district must conduct a formal review as soon as practicable after the incident. That review must include staff participation, a follow-up communication with the parent, and a structural review to consider whether the student's IEP, accommodations, or Behavior Intervention Plan needs to be revised.

Every incident must be documented and reported to DEED in the annual End of Year Report.

Alaska Statute 14.33.127 requires districts to provide evidence-based crisis intervention training to sufficient numbers of staff. If your child's school has no trained staff and is using ad hoc restraint techniques, that's a compliance issue.

If your child was restrained in any way that restricted breathing, placed them face-down, or involved prohibited chemical or mechanical methods, that's a potential statutory violation that the Disability Law Center of Alaska may be able to address.

Disproportionality and Alaska Native Students

DEED tracks racial and ethnic disproportionality in discipline, including suspension, expulsion, and restrictive placement. Alaska Native and American Indian students with IEPs are monitored specifically because of historical patterns of disproportionate discipline in Indigenous communities.

If you are an Alaska Native family and you believe your child is being disciplined more frequently or harshly than non-Native peers with similar behaviors, DEED's disproportionality reporting framework exists partly because of that pattern. A state complaint that documents disciplinary disproportionality can trigger a DEED investigation that looks at the district's data, not just your child's individual case.

What to Do When Your Child Is Suspended

When you receive notice that your child is being suspended:

Document the date and duration. Track the cumulative total for the school year. Most school systems don't proactively inform parents when they're approaching the 10-day threshold.

Request the behavioral incident report. You are entitled to see the documentation the school created about the incident.

If the cumulative total is approaching or exceeds 10 days, immediately request a Manifestation Determination Review in writing. Do not wait for the school to schedule it. The MDR must happen within 10 school days of the decision to change placement.

Review the IEP. If the behavior is related to the disability, ask whether the IEP includes a Functional Behavior Assessment and a Behavior Intervention Plan. If the IEP was supposed to address the behavior and wasn't being followed, that's an IEP implementation failure; under IDEA, conduct resulting from that failure is treated as a manifestation. If the conduct is a manifestation, the student generally returns to the prior placement, subject to IDEA special-circumstance rules.

Contact Stone Soup Group if you need support navigating the MDR meeting. They can attend virtually and help you understand what's being decided.

The Alaska IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook at /us/alaska/advocacy/ includes a discipline rights checklist and MDR preparation guide tailored to Alaska's specific statutory requirements under 4 AAC 52 and AS 14.33.125. When a suspension is happening fast and you need to know your rights immediately, having a ready reference specific to Alaska law is worth more than a generic national guide.

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