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SDLA Compliance Resource

Continue Educational Services After Disciplinary Removals Exceed 10 School Days

A cumulative-removal control for preserving curriculum access and IEP progress while the team evaluates change of placement, manifestation, behavior supports, and the appropriate interim setting.

  • Special Education
  • Discipline
  • Services
Date(s)Beginning with removals after the student has been removed for 10 school days in the same school year; additional change-of-placement and manifestation timelines may apply
Applies toStudents with disabilities removed from current placement through suspension, expulsion, or other disciplinary removal

In Plain Language: A student does not lose FAPE after the tenth cumulative removal day. Services must enable continued participation in the general curriculum, although in another setting, and progress toward IEP goals. The level and decision maker depend on whether the removal is a change of placement.

Why this matters

Counting only each suspension separately can hide the point when IDEA service and procedural protections begin.

Joint ownership

Count owner: discipline/attendance administrator. Services owner: special education administrator/case manager. Team: parent, student, IEP team, behavior specialists, teachers, placement staff, and legal/process support.

From removal log to documented services: the SDLA ITO workflow

A student does not lose FAPE after the tenth cumulative removal day. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how removal data, the IEP and its goals, and assignment and staffing details become the removal and pattern log, the day-11 services decision, delivery proof, and notices and decisions.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from removal data, the IEP and its goals, and assignment and staffing details, through the removal log, service planning before day 11, the change-of-placement check, and daily service documentation, to the removal and pattern log, the day-11 services decision, delivery proof, and notices and decisions.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers the removal log, service planning before day 11, the change-of-placement check, and daily service documentation; Output covers the removal and pattern log, the day-11 services decision, delivery proof, and notices and decisions. Services must enable continued participation in the general curriculum and progress toward IEP goals.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Maintain a real-time cumulative removal log, including partial days, reasons, length, proximity, and pattern factors.
  2. Before day 11, identify service delivery, curriculum access, goal progress, assignment/technology, transportation, and responsible staff.
  3. Determine whether the removal is a change of placement and trigger manifestation/FBA/BIP and placement procedures when applicable.
  4. Document services actually delivered during every removal day and reconvene the IEP team when the program is not working.

Removal decision path

Days 1–10 cumulative: track and review patterns
After day 10: services for qualifying additional removals
Change of placement: manifestation and IEP-team protections
Every stage: access, progress, behavior support, and records

Evidence to retain

  • Cumulative removal/pattern log
  • Day-11 services decision and assignments
  • Manifestation/FBA/BIP records when applicable
  • Service-minute and curriculum-access proof
  • Parent notices, placement decisions, and return plan

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California law, court or OAH instructions, local SELPA procedures, individual circumstances, and the exact service and records state before acting.