A for-profit company that provides alternative education options to students with a history of subpar academic performance or behavioral challenges, Community Education Partners has achieved significant results at programs it has managed in Texas. In 2010, Community Education Partners received strong reviews for its implementation of disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEPs) at Ferndale School in the Houston Independent School District. In 1995, the Texas legislature mandated that school districts establish alternative education settings, known as DAEPs, for students requiring behavioral intervention.

1. DISCIPLINARY
ALTERNATIVE
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
IN TEXAS
By Community Education Partners

2. Introduction
 A for-profit company that provides alternative education
options to students with a history of subpar academic
performance or behavioral challenges, Community Education
Partners has achieved significant results at programs it has
managed in Texas. In 2010, Community Education Partners
received strong reviews for its implementation of disciplinary
alternative education programs (DAEPs) at Ferndale School
in the Houston Independent School District. In 1995, the
Texas legislature mandated that school districts establish
alternative education settings, known as DAEPs, for students
requiring behavioral intervention.
School districts may refer students to a DAEP if that student
has committed several serious offenses during school or on
school property or engaged in behavior that could be
punished as a felony.

3. Disciplinary Alternative
Education
 Under Texas policy, a teacher may send a student to the
principal's office if he or she has repeatedly disrupted class
and interfered with the teacher's ability to instruct other
students. The principal has the option of assigning students
to a DAEP and, typically, may not return a disruptive student
to a classroom without the teacher's consent. However, if no
alternative placement is available, a teacher may have to
accommodate a disruptive student.
Prior to assignment to a DAEP, school officials must conduct
a conference with the student, parents or guardians, and the
teacher or administrator responsible for removing the student
from class. Students do have the right to explain their
perspective at the meeting and appeal the referral to the
district's board of trustees, but the district's decision on the
assignment to a DAEP is final.