2023 Minnesota Statutes

121A.55 POLICIES TO BE ESTABLISHED.

(a) The commissioner of education must promulgate guidelines to assist each school board. Each school board must establish uniform criteria for dismissal and adopt written policies and rules to effectuate the purposes of sections 121A.40 to 121A.56. The policies must include nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices consistent with section 121A.41, subdivision 12, and must emphasize preventing dismissals through early detection of problems. The policies must be designed to address students' inappropriate behavior from recurring.

(b) The policies must recognize the continuing responsibility of the school for the education of the pupil during the dismissal period.

(c) The school is responsible for ensuring that alternative educational services, if the pupil wishes to take advantage of them, must be adequate to allow the pupil to make progress toward meeting the graduation standards adopted under section 120B.02 and help prepare the pupil for readmission in accordance with section 121A.46, subdivision 5.

(d) For expulsion and exclusion dismissals and pupil withdrawal agreements as defined in section 121A.41, subdivision 13:

(1) for a pupil who remains enrolled in the district or is awaiting enrollment in a new district, a school district's continuing responsibility includes reviewing the pupil's schoolwork and grades on a quarterly basis to ensure the pupil is on track for readmission with the pupil's peers. A school district must communicate on a regular basis with the pupil's parent or guardian to ensure that the pupil is completing the work assigned through the alternative educational services as defined in section 121A.41, subdivision 11. These services are required until the pupil enrolls in another school or returns to the same school;

(2) a pupil receiving school-based or school-linked mental health services in the district under section 245.4889 continues to be eligible for those services until the pupil is enrolled in a new district; and

(3) a school district must provide to the pupil's parent or guardian information on accessing mental health services, including any free or sliding fee providers in the community. The information must also be posted on the district or charter school website.

(e) An area learning center under section 123A.05 may not prohibit an expelled or excluded pupil from enrolling solely because a district expelled or excluded the pupil. The board of the area learning center may use the provisions of the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act to exclude a pupil or to require an admission plan.

(f) Each school district shall develop a policy and report it to the commissioner on the appropriate use of peace officers and crisis teams to remove students who have an individualized education program from school grounds.

History:

1974 c 572 s 13; 1986 c 444; 1994 c 647 art 4 s 38; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 16 s 13; 1Sp1997 c 4 art 7 s 34; 1998 c 397 art 9 s 26; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 2 s 45; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 2 s 4; 1Sp2011 c 11 art 3 s 12; 2023 c 55 art 2 s 35