West Virginia House expands on student discipline bill passed last year
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CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia House of Delegates took a bill passed during last year's session dealing with student discipline issues and expanded it with a new bill passed Wednesday, setting up a possible conflict with the state Senate.
The House passed House Bill 4776 Wednesday morning, adding elementary schools into school disciplinary measures, in a 92-4 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate.
HB 4776 expands on a bill passed by the House last year. House Bill 2890 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.
"House Bill 4776 provides the circumstances by which a teacher may remove a student in grades pre-K through fifth grade from the classroom," said House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer.
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 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/guardian and the school's discipline team within three days of the child being removed from the classroom. The discipline team would also 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.
Under HB 2890 passed last year, students in grades six through 12 removed from the classroom are placed under the control of the school principal. Those students can only be readmitted to the classroom if the principal provides written certification to the teacher, including the type of discipline administered.
The law, which went into effect last June, requires school principals to be informed by the teacher within 24 hours of the removal of a student from the classroom, with the teacher required to submit an electronic record of the incident within 24 hours.
If a student has been removed twice from a classroom in one semester, the student can only be readmitted to the classroom once a conference has occurred with the student's parents or guardians. After the third removal, the student could be transferred to another setting, such as an alternative learning center. After three removals within a month, the student is required to receive either an in-school or out-of-school suspension.
Over on the other side of the building, the Senate Education Committee is still working on a draft bill on student discipline. The Senate bill, which would also focus on Kindergarten through fifth grade, could require separate classrooms for students with behavioral issues to create a safer learning environment.
These separate classrooms would have specialists trained to assist students with behavioral issues and include cameras to monitor the classrooms. The state Department of Education is working with Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason, who said the Senate's bill should be introduced later this week. Speaking after the Senate floor session Wednesday, Grady said she was not a fan of last year's HB 2890.
"I had problems with it last year," said Grady, a public school teacher in Mason County. "I don't think we should treat Kindergarteners the same way we treat 11th graders when it comes to discipline. It's a very vague bill. Last year, it said students could be removed for a disruption. If you've ever been in a Kindergarten classroom, they're all disruptive."
The Department of Education has been working on training and policies to reduce school discipline disparities that disproportionately affect minority students, students living in poverty and foster children. Department officials said last year that the new law is overly broad and provides no definitions of what "disruptive" or "disrespectful" conduct is under the law.
Grady said HB 4776 would likely be changed by the Senate, though she could not predict the final form a student discipline bill would take. But she expressed optimism that both bodies have the same goal.
"I am really happy that it is a priority for everybody," Grady said. "The House has passed a lot of bills out of Education and I know they're passing them to get them out. I'm going to be very selective on what I think we really need on this side."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com