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Senate student discipline bill faces uncertain future in West Virginia House

State Sen. Mike Caputo raised a number of concerns Monday about a bill dealing with student discipline in elementary school classrooms, but said he would support the bill. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate’s long anticipated student discipline bill focused on elementary school grades easily passed on Monday, but it might not have it so easy in the House of Delegates whose similar bill has seen no movement in the Senate.

Senate Bill 614 relating to elementary behavior intervention and safety passed the Senate Monday morning in a 32-1 vote, sending the bill to the House. Only House Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan, voted no.

SB 614 would require students in kindergarten through sixth grade to be placed in a county behavioral intervention program if their behavior in the classroom is violent, threatening or intimidating toward staff and other students and impedes the learning environment. The intervention program could either be through the county school system or with a neighboring system.

Students would be placed in behavioral intervention programs at the discretion of the teacher, principal and vice principal. If there is a disagreement between the teacher and administrators, a teacher can appeal to the county superintendent. The bill also would not override provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

For counties without behavioral intervention programs, students would be removed from the classroom following the incidents and suspended from school for the next one to three days while alternative learning accommodations are made, with the student receiving instruction through alternative learning.

Parents would be required to pick up the student either immediately or by the end of the school day. The student would be prohibited from returning home by school bus. Law enforcement would be notified of any student not picked up by a parent or guardian by the end of the school day.

The student would not be able to return to school until a risk assessment is done by a school psychologist. Upon completion, the student would return to school on a probationary period between five and 10 days. If another incident occurs, the student would be placed in an alternative learning environment for the remainder of the semester or school year.

“We’ve always focused on telling teachers that we’re listening to them,” said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason, the lead sponsor of the bill. “This is one of those bills that does that.”

An elementary school teacher in her home county, Grady said the bill came about after listening to the concerns of fellow teachers who believe they don’t have the support of their administrators in keeping their classrooms safe learning environments for the majority of students.

“I’m compassionate for every kid … that includes these kids with these behaviors,” Grady said. “But we focus so much of our resources and so many things on that one student who has these kinds of behaviors and we’re ignoring the other 19 in the classroom. We’re ignoring them. What about their safe place? Students come to school and that’s the only safe place.”

Monday’s vote on SB 614 enjoyed bipartisan support, but members of the Senate Democratic minority questioned whether the bill’s provisions were too broad and could be used against students when not appropriate, whether counties with behavioral intervention programs would work with counties without such programs, whether the requirement for law enforcement intervention would add to the stress on the Child Protective System and whether the bill represented an unfunded mandate for counties.

“I’m getting correspondence on this both ways.” Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said. “Some teachers are telling me this is a bad idea, and some teachers are telling me we have to do something but they don’t know what that something is … I’m going to vote for the bill, but I hope we can find more remedies.”

“We do have to make a first step here … but this is an unfunded mandate and to make it work, there needs to be funding corresponding to this,” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell. “I don’t think we’re throwing all the rotten apples in the same barrel like what used to occur in this state frequently. We’re not doing that. I think it’s a good bill and a good start.”

The House of Delegates already passed its own elementary school discipline bill. House Bill 4776, passed at the end of January, expands on House Bill 2890 passed by the Legislature last year that allows teachers in grades six through 12 to exclude students from the classroom who are disorderly, interfering in the educational process or obstructing a teacher from their classrooms for the remainder of the school day.

HB 4776 would allow teachers to remove students from the classroom for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, but only under limited circumstances. Teachers would have to show through documentation that a student’s behavior is repeatedly interfering with their ability to teach and other students’ ability to learn. It gives authority for the teacher to determine whether a student has shown consistent disruptive behavior or commits physical acts of harm and violence.

A student removed from an elementary school classroom under HB 4776 would not be returned to the classroom without the teacher’s consent, unless a committee determines that returning the student to that classroom is the best option. However, if a student is removed from a classroom for violent behavior, that student cannot be returned to the classroom without the teacher’s consent.

The bill also requires a conference between the parent or guardian and the school’s discipline team within three days of the child being removed from the classroom. The discipline team also would determine whether a student’s actions were in self-defense, the intent of the student’s actions and whether the student has a disability affecting his or her ability to understand their actions. Exceptions to the proposed law could be made based on a prior diagnosis or the student’s individualized learning plan.

Grady said following the passage of HB 4776 that she did not support that bill as written. House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, having yet to see the bill, declined to comment on SB 416.

Both of these bills come as teachers’ union representatives call for additional help for teachers in dealing with increasing incidents of verbal and sometimes violent behavior from students in classrooms. AFT-WV President Fred Albert has been raising teachers’ concerns about student violence at recent state Board of Education meetings. Albert supports the bill as a first step, but believes funding needs increased for counselors and behavioral specialists: something the bill doesn’t include.

“We need help for our teachers and our students. That message is clear,” Albert said. “We’re seeing behaviors that would not be tolerated in any other setting. I think this bill is trying to address the issues, but will we have the resources we need. Will we really have the help from this bill? I don’t think we need to just be suspending students.”

The state Department of Education has spent the last several months working with county school systems to reverse substantial disparities in student discipline that disproportionately targets Black students, other minorities, students from low-income families and students also in the state foster care system.

The Rev. Matthew Watts is a pastor on Charleston’s predominately Black West Side and leader of the Tuesday Morning Group, an organization focused on economic and social justice issues. In a letter to the Department of Education on Feb. 3, Watts called for SB 614 to be amended for its provision to be implemented as a pilot project in at least two counties before being rolled out statewide.

In his letter, Watts raised a number of concerns with SB 614, including it will further increase the number of suspensions, exacerbate the state’s student truancy problems and pit teachers and administrators against each other.

“I understand the intent of the bill is to reduce classroom disruption, which is important,” Watts said. “However; there are probably better ways to accomplish that goal that are less drastic. It is my opinion that…legislators need to have data presented to them that shows the negative impact that exclusionary discipline has on the academic performance of elementary age students and the long-term negative impact that exclusion disciplinary has on children for their futures.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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