I have a student that was suspended more than 10 days waiting on expulsion hearing. How should I report the DOE-SU?

Report the student for the entire length of the suspension up to the expulsion. A warning will be produced to check the accuracy of the length submitted. The expulsion should be the exact date and length of the beginning day of the expulsion.

If a student is removed from the classroom and doing homework, is this an in-school-suspension?

Even though the students are able to do homework -  if this is occurring during the instructional day and they are not receiving instruction from a licensed teacher it is considered an in school suspension.

If a student only misses the morning classes due to in-school suspension and attends the afternoon classes as normal, we have always turned in that he/she had .5 day of ISS.  According to your response below, are you saying that no ISS or OSS should ever be .5 ?  If so, why is it allowed?  Is it because of students who are only enrolled for a half day and that is the only time to use .5?   I would like this clarified one more time since we have used half day suspensions in the past for students who are enrolled for 100% of the day.

Suspension for any part of a day counts as 1 day suspension.

Students with disabilities who require IEPs are eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 USC Sec. 1400 et seq., implemented in Indiana through 511 IAC 7-17 et seq. (Article 7).  The U.S. Department of Education states that any part of an instructional day for which an eligible student is suspended counts as one day of suspension.  See 34 CFR Part 300, Federal Register, No. 64, No. 48 (Friday, March 12, 1999) at Attachment 1—Analysis of Comments and Changes, p. 12619  (“An in-school suspension would not be considered a part of the days of suspension…as long as the child is afforded the opportunity to continue to appropriately progress in the general curriculum, continue to receive the services specified on his or her IEP and continue to participate with nondisabled children to the extent they would have in their current placement.  Portions of a school day that a child had been suspended would be included in determining whether the child had been removed for more than 10 cumulative school days or subjected to a change of placement under Sec. 300.519.”)  Public schools, as a condition for receipt of IDEA funds, have agreed to abide by IDEA.  As a result, for a student eligible for services under Art. 7, a suspension for any part of a school day constitutes a day of suspension.  That is why we have 511 IAC 7-29-1(c).  They cannot be reported in increments less than “one.”  There should be no reporting otherwise. 

We have run into the situation of students that are removed from their normal classroom setting for disciplinary reasons for 1 or 2 hours. This does not constitute a half-day, so should this information be reported as in-school suspensions? If not, then how should they be recorded?

This reference is the DOE-SU data layout. In-School Suspension: Student is removed from an assigned class or activity to another setting in order to maintain an orderly and effective educational system.  If instruction in the general education curriculum continues during this removal to another setting, the student is counted in attendance. 

In-School Suspension should be counted as a full day regardless of the amount of time spent in suspension.

In-School Suspension and Detention

Below are approved definitions necessary for the collection of the DOE-SU and DOE-AT. These will be posted in the FAQ for each collection on the STN page.

In-School Suspension: Student is removed from an assigned class or activity to another setting in order to maintain an orderly and effective educational system. If instruction in the general education curriculum continues during this removal to another setting, the student is counted in attendance.

Detention: Student experiences disciplinary action at a time other than during instructional time in order to maintain an orderly and effective educational system. Because such actions do not occur during instructional time, attendance is not counted in reports to the state.