Senators call for stronger rules on off-the-books suspension

By ANNIE MA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are urging the Education Department to strengthen regulations against informal removals, a practice where children with disabilities are removed from the classroom for behaviors related to their disability without the removals ever being recorded as suspensions. Disability rights advocates and legal experts say the removals likely circumvent protections for disabled students, who are not supposed to be disciplined because of their disability. The letter was sent a day after a report by the Associated Press and the Hechinger Report documented the impact of these informal removals on children and families.