U.S. kids with disabilities face off-the-books school suspensions: AP

Excessive use of informal removals on disabled students in the United States amounts to a form of off-the-books discipline, a de facto denial of education that evades accountability, The Associated Press (AP) last week cited advocates and legal experts, reported Xinhua.

"Informally removing these students circumvents federal law that protects them from being disciplined or barred from class for behaviors related to their disability," said the report.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, parents of disabled kids say the practice is on the rise, denying their kids their legal right to an education, according to the report.

Informal removals can happen through frequent parent pickups, shortened school days or hours spent in "time-out" rooms, it said.

"Because the removals aren't recorded, there's no way to quantify how often they happen. But the National Disability Rights Network says it has seen an increase during the pandemic," it added.