Alternative Instruction. A charter school, like its district public school counterparts, is obligated to provide alternative instruction to students who are suspended, whether in-school or out-of-school. Such instruction can be at a location and time of the school’s choosing, so long as each is reasonable and the student has notice of it. For instance, a school can choose to provide tutoring to a suspended student at the school, the student’s home or some other reasonably accessible location, either during the school day or before or after school hours. Alternative instruction means actual instruction as opposed to simply giving homework or assigning self-study. The quality of the instruction is to be designed to allow the student to keep pace with school work, receive all assignments, tests, quizzes, etc. and generally advance with the curriculum. Alternative instruction for one-day suspensions may be provided in the school on the next school day, and should be documented. For example, a student could come in early or stay late or skip recess to receive the alternative instruction. Alternative instruction must be provided by qualified instructors, i.e., certified or allowable non-certified instructors that are NCLB highly qualified. (See the Number and Qualifications of Instructional Staff section, above, for more information.) As a best practice, schools may want to include a reasonable amount of alternative instruction in their expulsion policies to give parents time to enroll students in a district, charter or private school. Charter schools, as mandatory child abuse reporters are also obligated to report parents who intentionally withhold children from education without adequate reason for such action. Schools should also notify and work with the with MNPS when a child is being expelled from the charter school and may be rejoining the district. It is important to note that some U.S. Constitution 14th Amendment due process protections apply to suspensions of less than 10 days based on U.S. Supreme Court case law (▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇▇, 419 U.S. 565 (1975)), namely, a student’s (parent’s) right to know the reason for the suspension and the right to tell his or her side of the story prior to or shortly after commencement of the suspension. Greater protections apply to longer term suspensions and expulsions including additionally the right to counsel, to confront and present witness, and to challenge and present evidence. When setting up procedures for the re-entry of suspended students, school leaders should recognize that while a school can have a parental/guardian meeting as part of the re-entry process, it cannot punish the student for the parent’s failure to attend such a meeting. As the child has an independent right to a public education, it would violate due process to do so. In such cases, student should be re-admitted while the school continues to work with the parent(s) to schedule such a meeting.
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