In most special education disputes, your child stays put while the case is heard. Discipline appeals flip that default, and knowing which way it points changes how you use the process.
You filed the expedited appeal the week the manifestation decision came down, and you expect your child to return to the classroom while the hearing is pending, the way stay-put usually works. Discipline runs the default in the other direction, and the regulation that says so is a single sentence.
Under 34 C.F.R. § 300.533, when either the parent or the district appeals under § 300.532, the child must remain in the interim alternative educational setting pending the decision of the hearing officer or until the expiration of the removal period set by § 300.530(c) or (g), whichever occurs first, unless the parent and the state or the district agree otherwise.
When an appeal under § 300.532 has been made by either the parent or the LEA, the child must remain in the interim alternative educational setting pending the decision of the hearing officer or until the expiration of the time period specified in § 300.530(c) or (g), whichever occurs first, unless the parent and the SEA or LEA agree otherwise.
34 C.F.R. § 300.533
The rule carries its own limit. The interim placement cannot outlast the underlying removal, so if a 45 school day special circumstances removal under § 300.530(g) expires before the hearing officer rules, the expiration controls and the interim placement ends with it.
In an ordinary due process case, § 300.518(a) keeps your child in his or her current educational placement while the proceedings run, the protection families know as stay-put, and one we cover earlier in this series. Discipline flips that default: during a § 300.532 appeal, the interim setting rather than the prior classroom is where your child stays, which means the weight of the waiting falls on your family rather than on the district. The regulations pair that reversal with the expedited timeline in § 300.532(c)(2), a hearing within 20 school days of filing and a decision within 10 school days after the hearing, so the wait has a ceiling. That pairing is exactly why the fast clock in the previous post matters so much: the speed of the hearing is the counterweight to a default that keeps your child out of the classroom in the meantime.
The final words of § 300.533, unless the parent and the SEA or LEA agree otherwise, keep the placement negotiable at every point in the appeal. You can propose in writing that your child return to the prior classroom with added supports while the hearing is pending, or that the services in the interim setting change, and the district can say yes without waiting for a hearing officer to order anything. Districts sometimes prefer an agreed arrangement to litigating placement at an expedited hearing, so the proposal costs you nothing and can shorten the removal in practice.
Put any agreement you reach in writing, with the setting, the services, and the dates named. This post is general information rather than legal advice, and a special education attorney or your state's Parent Training and Information Center can advise you on a specific case.
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Assistance to States for the Education of Children With Disabilities, 34 C.F.R. § 300.518 (2017).
Assistance to States for the Education of Children With Disabilities, 34 C.F.R. § 300.530 (2017).
Assistance to States for the Education of Children With Disabilities, 34 C.F.R. § 300.532 (2017).
Assistance to States for the Education of Children With Disabilities, 34 C.F.R. § 300.533 (2017).
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (2004).
Keep reading
IDEA does not stop a school from reporting a crime, and a report does not stop the IEP. Here is what the regulation permits, what FERPA limits, and what to ask for if it happens to your family.
A child without an IEP can still claim IDEA's discipline protections if the district had reason to know about a disability before the incident occurred. A dated written concern is what creates that protection.
If you disagree with a manifestation determination or a disciplinary placement, federal law gives you an appeal that runs on a faster clock than any other due process case.