Manifestation Determination in Georgia: What Happens After 10 Days of Suspension

Your child has a disability, an IEP, and a discipline record that is growing. Now the school is talking about a long-term suspension or expulsion. Before any of that can happen, Georgia law requires a specific meeting — one that most parents walk into unprepared.

The Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) is one of the most consequential IEP meetings you will face. Understanding what triggers it, what the team is legally required to decide, and what your rights are at that meeting can change the outcome entirely.

What Triggers a Manifestation Determination Review

Under IDEA and Georgia's implementing rules, an MDR is required any time a school intends to remove a student with a disability for more than 10 cumulative school days in a school year. This is not 10 consecutive days — it is 10 cumulative school days across the year.

In practice, the trigger is usually one of:

• The district wants to suspend a student beyond the 10-day threshold
• The district is recommending expulsion
• The district is proposing a change of placement to a more restrictive setting as a disciplinary consequence

The MDR must be held within 10 school days of the decision to remove the student for more than 10 days.

Who Is in the Room

The MDR is technically an IEP team meeting. That means it must include:

• The parents (you)
• The student's special education teacher
• A general education teacher
• A district representative with authority to commit resources
• Other relevant members, which may include school psychologists, behavior specialists, or administrators

The district cannot hold this meeting without you. If they attempt to proceed in your absence, that is a procedural violation.

The Two Questions the Team Must Answer

The MDR team is tasked with answering exactly two questions:

1. Was the conduct caused by, or did it have a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability?

This is not a vague inquiry. It requires the team to look at the child's disability, how it manifests behaviorally, and whether the behavior in question was a direct expression of that disability. For a child with ADHD, impulsive behavior during an unstructured period might directly relate to their disability. For a child with autism, a meltdown triggered by a sensory overload situation is likely a direct manifestation. The team must make an evidence-based determination — not an intuition-based one.

2. Was the conduct the direct result of the district's failure to implement the IEP?

If the school did not deliver the services specified in the IEP — the reading intervention was skipped, the behavioral support was not in place, the accommodation was not communicated to the substitute teacher — and the behavior occurred partly because of that failure, the answer to this question may be yes.

If the answer to either question is yes, the conduct is a manifestation of the disability.

What Happens If It Is a Manifestation

If the behavior is determined to be a manifestation:

• The district cannot expel the student or impose a change of placement as a disciplinary consequence
• The IEP team must conduct (or review) a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and implement a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)
• The student returns to the placement they were in prior to the removal, unless you and the district agree to a different placement

The school can still remove the student for immediate safety reasons, but they cannot use the incident as the basis for an expulsion or long-term change of placement.

What Happens If It Is Not a Manifestation

If the team determines the behavior was not caused by or substantially related to the disability, the district may proceed with normal disciplinary procedures — up to and including expulsion. However, even in expulsion cases, the district must continue providing FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) in an alternative setting. The student does not lose their right to educational services.

What Georgia Parents Need to Watch For

There are several ways MDR meetings go wrong for parents:

The team uses conclusory reasoning. "We reviewed the records and determined it was not a manifestation." That is not sufficient. The team must document specifically why the behavior was not related to the disability. If the determination is made without substantive analysis, you can challenge it.

The IEP implementation question is ignored. Schools often focus entirely on the disability-behavior link and never examine whether the IEP was actually being implemented. Ask directly: "Was the IEP being implemented as written at the time of this incident?" Get the answer on the record.

The parent's input is not documented. Your perspective on how the disability affects your child's behavior belongs in the meeting notes. If the team rushes the meeting and does not record your position, that is a problem for any future appeal.

Pressure to agree to a placement change. Some districts use the MDR meeting to pressure parents into agreeing to a more restrictive placement — including a GNETS referral — as a resolution to the behavior. You are not required to agree to anything at that meeting, and any placement proposed must still comply with LRE requirements.

Appealing an MDR Determination

If you disagree with the MDR outcome, you can request an expedited due process hearing. Expedited hearings are handled by the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) and must be held within 20 school days of the request, with a decision within 10 school days of the hearing.

This timeline is much faster than a standard due process hearing. If your child is facing expulsion and you believe the behavior was a manifestation, act quickly.

Documenting Everything Before the MDR

The most effective parent in an MDR meeting is the one who has documented:

• The child's current IEP services and whether they were being delivered
• The child's disability and how it typically manifests behaviorally
• Any requests made before the incident that were not addressed (testing accommodations, behavioral supports, communication with teachers)
• The discipline history leading up to the 10-day trigger

The Georgia IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook includes an MDR preparation checklist, guidance on documenting IEP implementation failures, and the language to use when challenging an MDR determination you believe was made incorrectly.

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