Feds: IDEA Still Applies When Students Incarcerated

http://goo.gl/rK5xQi

Kids with disabilities have the right to a free appropriate public education complete with academics, therapies and other supports even if they’re locked up, federal officials say.

In new guidance, the Obama administration is reminding states and local agencies that students do not relinquish their rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act if they are incarcerated.

“The fact that a student has been charged with or convicted of a crime does not diminish his or her substantive rights or the procedural safeguards and remedies provided under the IDEA to students with disabilities and their parents,” wrote the U.S. Department of Education’s Melody Musgrove and Michael Yudin in a letter being sent this week to state and local officials responsible for educating youth in correctional facilities.