No IEP Says 'Tolerate Violence
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder makes clear that no IEP, behavior plan, or special education framework requires schools to tolerate violence from students.
Key Takeaways
- IEPs don't mandate tolerating violence - No legal document requires educators to accept being assaulted
- Behavior plans should prevent violence, not excuse it - A properly designed behavior plan includes safety protocols, not permission for aggression
- Safety is non-negotiable - Regardless of disability status, schools must maintain a safe environment for all
Transcript
So we've had just a huge number of comments in reply to my earlier video about violent student behavior in the classroom.
And one of the things that's come up multiple times is the fact that a lot of students are on IEPs for behavior.
Perhaps they have developmental issues or neurodivergence issues that are contributing to that behavior.
In a lot of cases, there are behavior plans in place that don't seem to really protect the teacher or other staff members or the other students from repeat violent behavior.
And I think one thing we've got to keep in mind is that as educators, we have the obligation to do what we can, right?
We have the obligation to provide accommodations, to provide supports, to put the right things in place to set the student up for success.
But we don't have the obligation to just tolerate anything that occurs ever, period.
no matter how dangerous, no matter how damaging, no matter how violent.
No IEP says you should have to tolerate an infinite amount of violence from this child.
That's just not what IEPs say.
And yet the kinds of things that teachers are being told they have to do or they have to put up with or they have to overlook because of what's in an IEP or a behavior plan.
It's really mind-boggling.
I'd encourage you to read some of the comments on that other video.
And when it comes to individual student differences and individual student needs, I think the thing that we've got to keep in mind is that we are setting students up for the real world.
There is special education, but there's not a special world out there where if you're violent, it's okay.
If you grow up and are violent, they're not going to ask in court or at the police station, do you have an IEP?
So this idea that we can just kind of let things go and then that'll be better for the student doesn't really work.
I think when we have an incident of violence with a student with an IEP, with a student with a disability, we need to look at that as evidence that something is not working in the behavior plan or in the IEP and not just blame the people involved, you know, not blame the other students or the staff members.
And like, when I hear things like, well, what did you do to set them off?
Or did you follow the behavior plan?
Like we can expect people to make a good effort to follow behavior plans, but I don't think we can expect perfection.
And I think it's really gaslighting to ask teachers questions like, well, what did you do that contributed to this?
What did you do that set it off?
Because like, ultimately the student is responsible for their own behavior and And if we could change that fact throughout a student's life, maybe we could make a case that we can always take responsibility for a student's behavior.
But ultimately, they're going to leave us at some point, and they are going to be responsible for their behavior.
So this idea that we can run education differently, run the classroom differently, and just tolerate things, I don't think that sets up the student for success.
And it certainly makes life miserable for everybody else.
So let me know what you think.