JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="//code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.4/jquery-ui.js"></script>
<ul class="sortable">
    <li class="sort-item">Hi</li>
    <li class="sort-item">Hi</li>
    <li class="sort-item" id="special">special</li>
    <li class="sort-item">Hi</li>
</ul>
<button>Now remove "sort-item" class from "#special"</button>

JavaScript

jQuery(function($) {
    $('.sortable').sortable({items:".sort-item"});
    $('button').on("click", function() {
        $("#special").removeClass("sort-item");
        $(".sortable").sortable("refresh");
    });
})