2007 Minnesota Statutes

121A.41 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Applicability. As used in sections 121A.40 to 121A.56, the terms defined in
this section shall have the meanings assigned them.
    Subd. 2. Dismissal. "Dismissal" means the denial of the current educational program to any
pupil, including exclusion, expulsion, and suspension. It does not include removal from class.
    Subd. 3. District. "District" means any school district.
    Subd. 4. Exclusion. "Exclusion" means an action taken by the school board to prevent
enrollment or reenrollment of a pupil for a period that shall not extend beyond the school year.
    Subd. 5. Expulsion. "Expulsion" means a school board action to prohibit an enrolled pupil
from further attendance for up to 12 months from the date the pupil is expelled.
    Subd. 6. Parent. "Parent" means (a) one of the pupil's parents, (b) in the case of divorce or
legal separation, the parent or parents with physical custody of the pupil, including a noncustodial
parent with legal custody who has provided the district with a current address and telephone
number, or (c) a legally appointed guardian. In the case of a pupil with a disability under the age
of 18, parent may include a district-appointed surrogate parent.
    Subd. 7. Pupil. "Pupil" means any student:
(1) without a disability under 21 years of age; or
(2) with a disability until September 1 after the child with a disability becomes 22 years
of age;
(3) and who remains eligible to attend a public elementary or secondary school.
    Subd. 8. School. "School" means any school defined in section 120A.05, subdivisions 9,
11, 13, and 17 .
    Subd. 9. School board. "School board" means the governing body of any school district.
    Subd. 10. Suspension. "Suspension" means an action by the school administration, under
rules promulgated by the school board, prohibiting a pupil from attending school for a period of no
more than ten school days. If a suspension is longer than five days, the suspending administrator
must provide the superintendent with a reason for the longer suspension. This definition does
not apply to dismissal from school for one school day or less, except as provided in federal law
for a student with a disability. Each suspension action may include a readmission plan. The
readmission plan shall include, where appropriate, a provision for implementing alternative
educational services upon readmission and may not be used to extend the current suspension.
Consistent with section 125A.091, subdivision 5, the readmission plan must not obligate a parent
to provide a sympathomimetic medication for the parent's child as a condition of readmission.
The school administration may not impose consecutive suspensions against the same pupil for
the same course of conduct, or incident of misconduct, except where the pupil will create an
immediate and substantial danger to self or to surrounding persons or property, or where the
district is in the process of initiating an expulsion, in which case the school administration may
extend the suspension to a total of 15 days. In the case of a student with a disability, the student's
individual education plan team must meet immediately but not more than ten school days after the
date on which the decision to remove the student from the student's current education placement
is made. The individual education plan team and other qualified personnel shall at that meeting:
conduct a review of the relationship between the child's disability and the behavior subject to
disciplinary action; and determine the appropriateness of the child's education plan.
The requirements of the individual education plan team meeting apply when:
(1) the parent requests a meeting;
(2) the student is removed from the student's current placement for five or more consecutive
days; or
(3) the student's total days of removal from the student's placement during the school
year exceed ten cumulative days in a school year. The school administration shall implement
alternative educational services when the suspension exceeds five days. A separate administrative
conference is required for each period of suspension.
    Subd. 11. Alternative educational services. "Alternative educational services" may
include, but are not limited to, special tutoring, modified curriculum, modified instruction, other
modifications or adaptations, instruction through electronic media, special education services as
indicated by appropriate assessment, homebound instruction, supervised homework, or enrollment
in another district or in an alternative learning center under section 123A.05 selected to allow
the pupil to progress toward meeting graduation standards under section 120B.02, although
in a different setting.
History: 1974 c 572 s 2; 1975 c 162 s 41; 1983 c 7 s 1; 1983 c 163 s 1; 1983 c 243 s 5 subd
1; 1986 c 444; 1991 c 265 art 3 s 38; 1994 c 647 art 4 s 36; 1995 c 226 art 3 s 9; 1Sp1997 c 4 art
7 s 11-16; 1998 c 397 art 9 s 26; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 2 s 39-41; 1999 c 123 s 1; 1Sp2001 c 6
art 3 s 1; 1Sp2003 c 9 art 3 s 1; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 11 s 2