Event Resources
Education Advocacy
Thank you for joining Lakeshore Legal Aid’s presentation on Education Advocacy! Below is a list of relevant resources. If you have a legal question about special education services, assessment of your child for services, IEPs, or 504 plans, consider contacting Lakeshore’s Counsel & Advocacy Law Line at 888-783-8190. Our attorney-staffed hotline provides free legal information, advice, and referrals. You can also apply for legal services online on our Find Legal Help webpage.
- US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights for Michigan/Ohio
- (216) 552-4970
- Michigan Alliance for Families
- (800) 552-4821
- Student Advocacy Center of Michigan
- (734) 482-0489
- Disability Rights Michigan
- (517) 487-1755
- The Arc of Michigan
- 800-292-7851
- Michigan Legal Help
- U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Civil Rights Complaint Forms
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Michigan Alliance for Families (focus on special education advocacy)
Relevant Laws
- Legal Basis for School Discipline: MCL 380.1309-380.1311
- MCL 380.1310d covers suspension and expulsion
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The school has broad discretion to suspend or expel students when, in its own judgment, “the interest of the school is served” by such an action. MCL 380.1311(1).
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Section 380.1310d Rebuttable presumption: school faces rebuttable presumption in favor of keeping MC in school if school wants to suspend or expel student >10 days, except when firearms are involved.
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MCL 380.1311(1) allows a school or district to suspend or expel a student who is guilty of a gross misdemeanor or persistent disobedience if the interest of the school is served by the suspension or expulsion.
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MCL 380.1311(2) allows a school or district to expel a student who possesses a dangerous weapon in a weapon free school zone, commits arson in a school or on school grounds, or commits criminal sexual assault in a school or on school grounds. The student can be expelled from the school district permanently, subject to possible reinstatement.
