Georgia GNETS, Behavior IEPs, and Manifestation Determination: What Parents Need to Know

When a child with a disability repeatedly gets in trouble at school, parents in Georgia often find themselves on a collision course with one of the most controversial programs in the state's education system: the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support, or GNETS.

Understanding what GNETS is, when a district can refer a student there, and how Georgia's behavioral IEP rules work is essential for any parent navigating serious school discipline with a child who has an IEP.

What Is GNETS?

The Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support is a state-funded network of 24 regional programs established in 1970 to serve students with severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorder (EBD). On paper, it exists to provide intensive support for students who cannot be served in a standard school environment.

In practice, GNETS has been the subject of federal investigation and ongoing civil rights litigation. The U.S. Department of Justice found that GNETS operates as a highly restrictive, often segregated system that frequently violates the integration mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504. Students placed in GNETS are frequently educated in entirely separate buildings or in isolated, locked wings of neighborhood schools, physically separated from their non-disabled peers for the entire school day — including meals. Investigations revealed that GNETS facilities often lack basic educational amenities such as libraries, gymnasiums, and science labs. Many students are taught primarily through computer-based modules rather than by highly qualified teachers, which is associated with depressed graduation rates.

Advocacy organizations, including the Georgia Advocacy Office and The Arc, have described GNETS as a "dumping ground" for students whom districts failed to support with adequate behavioral interventions in general education.

When Can a School Refer a Student to GNETS?

GNETS is considered an alternative educational placement on the most restrictive end of Georgia's service delivery continuum. Under Georgia Rule 160-4-7-.15, an IEP team can only consider a GNETS referral if there is explicit documentation and data demonstrating that supplemental aids and services — including a comprehensive Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and a robust Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) — have already been implemented in the general education setting and have failed to enable the student to make progress.

This is the critical protection parents need to understand. A school cannot fast-track a student to GNETS simply because their behavior is disruptive or because the general education teacher is struggling. The law requires documented evidence that less restrictive alternatives have been exhausted. If the school is proposing GNETS and the child has never had a formal FBA or a comprehensive BIP, that referral is legally vulnerable.

Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plans in Georgia

Before a behavioral placement like GNETS is even discussed, your child should have a current, data-driven Functional Behavioral Assessment. An FBA is an assessment process designed to identify the underlying function of a student's behavior — what the behavior is communicating or achieving for the student. Common functions include escaping a demand, gaining attention, accessing a preferred item, or responding to sensory input.

Once the function is identified, a Behavior Intervention Plan is developed to address it. A good BIP includes:

• A clear definition of the target behavior (specific, observable, measurable)
• Data on the baseline rate of the behavior (frequency, duration, intensity)
• Identified antecedents (what typically happens just before the behavior)
• Identified consequences (what typically happens after)
• Hypothesis about the function of the behavior
• Proactive strategies to prevent the behavior from occurring
• Teaching replacement behaviors that serve the same function
• Reactive strategies for when the behavior does occur
• Data collection methods to track whether the plan is working

A BIP that says "Johnny will receive a break when he gets upset" is not a behavior plan — it is a vague gesture. Georgia parents have the right to review the BIP and request revisions at any IEP meeting. If the BIP has never been formally updated based on actual behavioral data, that is a significant compliance gap.

The 10-Day Rule: When Discipline Becomes a Placement Change

Georgia Rule 160-4-7-.10 aligns with federal IDEA discipline provisions, but parents need to understand exactly where the line is.

A student with an IEP can be suspended or removed from school just like any other student for up to 10 school days per year without triggering special education protections. Once a suspension or series of shorter suspensions crosses the 10-day threshold — or constitutes a pattern — it becomes a change in educational placement, and the full weight of IDEA protections activates.

Before the 11th day of removal, the district must hold a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR). The IEP team gathers to answer two questions:

1. Was the behavior caused by, or did it have a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability?
2. Was the behavior the direct result of the school's failure to implement the IEP?

If the answer to either question is "yes," the behavior is a manifestation of the disability. Under this finding:

• The student cannot be expelled or subjected to long-term suspension for that specific behavior
• The school must conduct or review an FBA and modify the BIP to address the underlying issues
• The student must return to their current placement (unless both the school and parent agree to a different placement, or certain weapons/drugs exceptions apply)

If the district finds "no manifestation" — meaning the behavior was not related to the disability — standard disciplinary procedures apply, but the student must still receive educational services allowing them to continue to participate in the general curriculum and progress toward their IEP goals during any long-term suspension.

Seclusion Is Prohibited in Georgia

One protection that many parents do not know about: Georgia Board Rule 160-5-1-.35 prohibits seclusion — defined as isolating a student alone in a closed room — in all Georgia public schools. This is a specific and unambiguous state prohibition.

Physical restraint is severely limited under the same rule. It is only permissible in genuine emergency situations where a student presents an immediate danger to themselves or others. When restraint is used, the school is required to:

• Notify parents promptly
• Provide written documentation of the incident
• Conduct a debriefing to prevent future incidents

If your child has been secluded at school — placed alone in a room with the door closed — that is a direct violation of Georgia Rule 160-5-1-.35, regardless of the circumstances described by the school. If restraint has been used, you should receive written documentation every time it occurs. If you are not receiving that documentation, request it immediately and consider filing a formal state complaint with the GaDOE.

How to Fight a GNETS Referral

If the school proposes a GNETS placement and you believe less restrictive alternatives have not been exhausted, you do not have to accept the proposal. An IEP team placement decision requires parental consent. Refusing to sign the placement paperwork does not strand your child without services — the student remains in their current placement under the IDEA "stay put" provision while the dispute is resolved.

Steps to contest a GNETS referral:

1. Request the documentation showing that the required FBA was conducted, the BIP was implemented with fidelity, and the data demonstrating it failed. If this documentation does not exist, the referral cannot be legally supported.
2. Request an IEP revision meeting to propose specific supports — additional one-on-one paraprofessional support, reduced class size, co-teaching with a behavioral specialist, or a specialized self-contained classroom within the neighborhood school — as less restrictive alternatives.
3. Consult the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO), which has been lead counsel in systemic litigation against GNETS and may be able to provide specific legal guidance.
4. File a GaDOE formal state complaint if you believe the district is referring to GNETS without documenting the required exhaustion of less restrictive alternatives. The GaDOE investigates within 60 days and issues corrective action orders if violations are found.
5. Request mediation as a voluntary but legally binding process to negotiate alternative placement options with the district.

The Manifestation Determination and GNETS Intersection

One of the most dangerous moments for a student with a behavioral IEP is when a school is simultaneously processing disciplinary suspensions (approaching the 10-day threshold) and floating the idea of a GNETS referral. These two processes can converge to produce an outcome where the student loses their neighborhood school placement through a combination of discipline and placement change — effectively bypassing the legal protections that would apply if each pathway were pursued individually.

Watch for this pattern: a series of short suspensions, each under 10 days, that collectively amount to a de facto change in placement without triggering a formal MDR. Georgia law considers a pattern of shorter suspensions equivalent to a change in placement when those suspensions are for similar behaviors and total more than 10 days.

If you believe this is occurring, document every removal from school — including partial-day removals — and write to the school in writing invoking your right to a Manifestation Determination Review.

Your Broader Rights Under Georgia Dispute Resolution

Georgia parents have three formal dispute resolution pathways when behavioral IEP disputes escalate: filing a formal state complaint with the GaDOE, requesting mediation, or filing for a due process hearing administered through the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH).

GaDOE complaint data shows that formal complaints more than doubled between 2021 and 2024, with incorrect service delivery models and failure to provide behavioral supports among the most frequent findings resulting in corrective action orders.

The Georgia IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a GNETS referral response framework, a manifestation determination preparation checklist, and letter templates for invoking your rights when the school's behavioral approach is not working — designed specifically for Georgia's 180 school districts and applicable state rules.

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