Advocating for Students in School Discipline Process

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SPECIAL REPORT: DIVERSITY

By the time I met “Jayden,” he had already been suspended from school 3 times this school year. He was 10 years old.

Jayden is a Black boy with significant emotional and behavioral needs. His anxiety often shows up as frustration and difficulty with transitions—responses any clinician would recognize as signs he needs more support. He was never violent, but he spoke up when he felt mistreated, sometimes using profanity.

Even though Jayden was in special education and had a one-on-one support person, an obvious sign that he needed a lot of support, his school did not see his behavior as a signal of distress. Instead, they labeled it as defiance and punished him accordingly.

I submitted a detailed clinical letter to the school administration outlining Jayden's diagnosis and recommending adjustments to accommodations and how suspending him further isolates him and feeds the cycle of unwanted behaviors. I expected at least a conversation. What I received was silence. The letter was ignored. No meeting. No follow-up. No adjustments to his educational plan.

As a Yale-trained child and adolescent psychiatrist, I can confidently state that this is not just Jayden's story. It is a pattern that demands our immediate attention. Jayden's experience reflects a larger, troubling trend. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, in 2023, 23.1% of Black students reported unfair discipline—higher than White (18.1%) and Hispanic (18.4%) students.¹ Additionally, while overall suicide rates in the US have declined, the rate among Black males has risen in recent decades.² Additionally, suicide stands as the third leading cause of death for Black males, an alarming sign of a growing public health crisis.³

Time and again, Black boys facing emotional struggles are punished instead of helped.⁴ What should be seen as a cry for support is too often treated as defiance or disruption. Many mental health professionals are unfamiliar with school protocols and education laws, but this gap costs our patients profoundly.

Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are required to conduct a manifestation determination review (MDR) when a student with known or suspected disabilities is removed for more than 10 consecutive school days.⁵ This review assesses whether the behavior was directly related to the disability or resulted from a failure to implement supports, such as a 504 plan or an individualized education program, also known as special education. If so, the student cannot be suspended or expelled.⁶ Instead, schools must conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and develop or revise a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) tailored to support the child.

In Jayden's case, no health professional was involved in the review. A determination about whether his behavior was a manifestation of his mental health challenges was made without my input—despite being his treating psychiatrist. He kept getting suspended while I tried to stabilize his mental health needs. I had not realized how to intervene according to the law and the rights of my patient until I educated myself and learned how often providers are left sidelined in crucial decisions about their patients. I realized that legal steps are sometimes skipped, especially when families are unaware of their rights, or a child’s behavior is particularly challenging.⁷ As a result, children are pushed out of classrooms without the protection or assistance they deserve.

To be sure, it is well known that educators are under pressure, often lacking mental health training themselves.⁸ Each year, there are increasing requirements and expectations for them to manage the classroom, meet parameters, and respond to students’ needs without additional time or compensation to do so.^9,10 The goal is not to vilify educators but to join in our shared effort to help students reach their full potential.

As the academic year draws to a close, it is a moment for us to reset and prepare for the upcoming academic year. The next school year presents a fresh opportunity to improve. Psychiatric care does not end with a diagnosis and a prescription—it extends into understanding the school environment, and we need to be there with them.

What we can do is empower families to request 504 plans and formal “social-emotional evaluations” in writing to start the process of getting more support for their child. Write support letters to school administration that explicitly link mental health diagnoses to classroom challenges. Familiarize ourselves with MDR, FBA, and BIP processes. Connect directly with school staff, as our clinical authority can provide school administration with clarity and context for disruptive behavior.

Jayden did not need another suspension. He needed acknowledgment, validation, and support for his emotional and behavioral needs. These repeated suspensions were not just disciplinary actions but further fueled his anxiety and feelings of isolation. Each suspension further reinforced his belief that he was a “bad kid” and that he did not belong in this school. It worsened his self-esteem, he continued to fall behind academically—and the cycle of behavioral struggles continued.

If we, as mental health professionals, do not stand up for our patients where they are mischaracterized, who will? Our actions can make a significant difference where it counts—at school.

Dr Okeke is a double board certified, Yale-trained child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist at Community Health Center, Inc, in Middletown, Connecticut. Her clinical work focuses on school-based mental health, with an emphasis on integrating psychiatric expertise into classrooms to better support students with emotional and behavioral needs.

References

1. Krause KH, Bell C, Jordan B, et al. Report of unfair discipline at school and associations with health risk behaviors and experiences — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023. MMWR Suppl. 2024;73(4):69-78.

2. Black populations. Suicide Prevention Resource Center. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://sprc.org/about-suicide/scope-of-the-problem/racial-and-ethnic-disparities/black-populations/

3. Adams LB, Thorpe RJ. Achieving mental health equity in Black male suicide prevention. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1113222.

4. Robinson MA. Black boys don't need more discipline, they need mentors. Ed Post. July 23, 2018. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.edpost.com/stories/black-boys-dont-need-more-discipline-they-need-mentors

5. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). US Department of Education. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/individuals-disabilities/idea

6. Aligning discipline policies and procedures with section 504: a guide for school and district leaders. Frontline Education. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.frontlineeducation.com/special-ed-software/504-discipline-guidebook/

7. Gittings R. When schools fail to follow the IEP - what North Carolina parents can do. North Carolina Legal Services. May 14, 2025. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.northcarolinalegalservices.org/article/when-schools-fail-to-follow-the-iep-what-north-carolina-parents-can-do

8. Collins BR. Teachers and students are not okay right now. More mental health training would help. The Hechinger Report. August 7, 2023. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-teachers-and-students-are-not-okay-right-now-more-mental-health-training-would-help/

9. Wahab NYA, Rahman RA, Mahat H, Hudin NS. Impacts of workload on teachers’ well-being: a systematic literature review. TEM Journal. 2024.

10. Allegretto S. Teacher pay penalty still looms large. Economic Policy Institute. September 29, 2023. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-in-2022/