Discipline Data Requirements for Special Education

The Disciplinary Incident Reporting System (DIRS) includes new screens for data on students with Individual Education Plans.

To summarize the new data entry information for special education students, each district is required to submit an incident report when a special education student has been suspended out of school or has been removed from school for one day or less. A removal is defined as a removal from school grounds for any portion of a school day. As clarified by the Federal Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), a removal of any amount of a school day up to one-half day is counted as a half-day of removal. Any removal of more than one- half day of school up to one full school day is counted as one day of removal.

In addition, an incident report must be submitted anytime a district unilaterally removes a special education student up to 45 calendar days for doing one of the following acts while at school or a school function under the jurisdiction of a State or local educational agency:
• possession of a dangerous weapon as defined by federal law (excludes pocket knives with a blade of less than 2 ½ inches in length)

• possession of illegal drugs as defined by federal law (excludes tobacco and alcohol), or

• sells or solicits the sale of a controlled substance while at school or at a school function. 34 CFR Section 300.520 and 18 U.S.C. Section 930 (g)(2).

For all students suspended for more than five days and for expelled or excluded students, one of the data elements requested is the type of alternative educational services the district offered to the student. Minn. Stat. Section 121A.41 Subd. 10 and 11; Minn. Stat. Section 121A.55(a).

One feature of the new system is that only one incident report needs to be submitted for one incident, regardless of the number of offenders or victims. The offender and victim information will need to be inputted, however, it will only be counted as one disciplinary incident. This might be used when several students are involved in a fight.

Another addition is entering a truancy incident report when a student is habitually truant. This only needs to be done once per school year for a student who has seven or more unexcused absences in a school year. This provision was added based upon a new requirement set forth in the No Child Left Behind Act that requires states to collect truancy data.

Setting up accounts in the Disciplinary Incident Reporting System (DIRS)

1. Click the link https://education.state.mn.us/MDEDISecurity/
2. Type in a User ID of your choosing; it must be at least 6 characters and can be letters or numbers.
3. Type in your name. First and Last Name must be filled in; Middle Name can be left blank.
4. Enter a password of your choosing; it must be at least 6 characters and can be letters or numbers. It should not be the same as your User ID.
5. Enter your telephone and e-mail address.
6. Choose your district from the drop-down menu (click the down arrow next to the district box). Districts are listed alphabetically.
7. Choose your role. There are 3 possible roles:
a. Superintendent: This should be the superintendent of a district or the director of a charter school. At the end of the reporting period, the superintendent is required to certify that the data entered is correct. Only one superintendent account can be set up per district. Each district will need a superintendent account in order to certify. Superintendents can also enter and edit data.
b. Principal: Each district can have multiple principal accounts. A principal can determine that a school’s information is complete. A principal can also add or edit data. Principal accounts are NOT required.
c. Data Entry: Each district can have as many data entry accounts as they need. Data entry accounts can add and edit data, but can not determine that a school’s entry is complete or certify the district’s information.
8. Click “Create Account”
9. This will take you to a screen that shows the information you just entered and gives you the choice to either “Set up another account” or “Enter the Disciplinary Incident Reporting System”
10. Once the account is set up, you can begin entering incidents into the system. You do not need to wait for an approval.

To: Special Education Directors
From: Carol Thomas
Safe and Healthy Learners Unit
Re: Disciplinary Incident Reporting System Set Up
Dt: November 5, 2004

The new Disciplinary Incident Reporting System (DIRS) is now on-line! This reporting system replaces the Dangerous Weapons/Disciplinary Incident (DW/DI) report for suspensions and expulsions. Because of your position in the district, we wanted to be sure that you were aware of this new system and ask that you help to spread the word that it is ready to use.

Last Thursday, we send a memo to all superintendents about DIRS, and gradually, superintendents are setting up the district account and sending links to principals so each building can set up their account and begin submitting disciplinary reports. But principals can set up their building account even if the district account is not yet set. Here are the directions:

This system requires passwords for data entry. The first level of password is the Superintendent. Please open up the attached DIRS Account Set-Up document for directions and a link to setting up your district’s account for inputting data into DIRS. In addition to a Superintendent password, principals will have the means of setting up their own building account and data entry staff can also have password access.

This new reporting system will enable both MDE and your district to comply with state and federal reporting requirements for suspensions, expulsions, special education, truancy and dangerous weapons. Please note that more data is required than in the old DWDI system; therefore, if any building uses a paper form to capture information to be put into DIRS at a later date - end of the term or at the half year mark - that form probably needs to be updated or expanded. We recommend staff enter the system and compare the paper report with the system's requirements and make appropriate edits.

Another new component of the system is an end-of-year sign-off by the Superintendent. This sign-off allows a final review of all the data reported in a district and the ability to print and save a summary report. We will send reminder directions as we get to the end of the school year to alert you to this requirement.

If you have questions regarding the content requested in DIRS, contact Marikay Litzau, Due Process Specialist at 651-582-8459, marikay.litzau@state.mn.us

If you have questions about the technology or problems accessing the system, please contact Diane Woods, IT Project Manager at 651-582-8735; diane.woods@state.mn.us

We thank you again for your patience in the past years with the old system and your continued patience as we pilot the new one. Please feel free to continue to provide us with recommendations for improvement.