HB 210: "An Act relating to establishing a disciplinary and safety program in public schools; and providing for an effective date."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 210 01 "An Act relating to establishing a disciplinary and safety program in public 02 schools; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. FINDINGS AND INTENT. The legislature finds that 05 (1) the children of this state constitute its most important resource, and, in 06 order to enable those children to reach their full potential, the state must provide the quality 07 public education that the Constitution of the State of Alaska mandates; 08 (2) school districts cannot provide Alaska's children with the education they 09 deserve and require unless the environment of the public schools is conducive to learning; 10 (3) the appropriate school environment cannot be achieved unless an 11 atmosphere of safety prevails; 12 (4) for learning to occur, children must be in school; disruptive students 13 typically derive little benefit from traditional school programs and may benefit substantially 14 by being transferred from their current classroom into an in-school suspension program, where
01 the student's particular needs may be more appropriately and individually addressed; 02 meaningful in-school suspension is more productive for dealing with disruptive students than 03 out-of-school suspensions or expulsions. 04 (b) It is the intent of the legislature that school districts should comply with all 05 applicable federal laws and regulations relating to special education students but do so in a 06 manner consistent with the goals of this Act. 07 * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.120(f) is amended to read: 08 (f) By January 15 of each year, beginning in 2001, the department shall 09 provide to the governor and make available to the public and the legislature a report 10 on the performance of public schools in this state. The report must be entitled 11 "Alaska's Public Schools: A Report Card to the Public." The report must include 12 (1) comprehensive information on each public school compiled, 13 collected, and reported under (d) and (e) of this section for the prior school year; 14 (2) a summary of the information described in (1) of this subsection; 15 the summary must be prepared in a manner that allows school performance to be 16 measured against established state education standards; [AND] 17 (3) for a report due by or after January 15, 2003, the performance 18 designation under AS 14.03.123(b) received by each public school during the prior 19 school year ; and 20 (4) a summary of the information received on school safety and 21 discipline under AS 14.30.055(g), to include the following: the status of and an 22 evaluation of prevention, intervention, and alternative programs; an assessment 23 of disciplinary and safety needs and problems of the public schools; a report on 24 the frequency of repeat offenders; the suspension rate in each school, the 25 expulsion rate in each school, the number of students dropping out of school in 26 grades nine through 12, the number of student-on-student assaults, the number 27 of student-on-teacher assaults, the number of student-on-school employee assaults, 28 and the teacher turnover rate . 29 * Sec. 3. AS 14.30 is amended by adding new sections to article 1 to read: 30 Sec. 14.30.055. Required disciplinary and safety program. (a) Each 31 governing body shall, in conjunction with parents, teachers, administrators, students,
01 and other community or village leaders, establish a school discipline and safety 02 program for each school in the district. The program must include at least the 03 following components: 04 (1) procedures to allow parents or guardians to participate in planning, 05 design, implementation, and evaluation of programs to address school discipline and 06 provide for intervention and prevention of disruptive behavior; 07 (2) regular and periodic programs throughout the school year for 08 training, instruction, and information on 09 (A) home activities, strategies, and materials that can be used 10 to assist and enhance the learning of children both at home and at school; 11 (B) parenting skills that assist parents and guardians in 12 understanding the developmental needs of children and in understanding how 13 to provide positive discipline for and build healthy relationships with children; 14 (C) responding to student violence; 15 (3) programs to develop consistent and effective communications 16 between the school and parents or guardians concerning the progress of children in 17 school; 18 (4) procedures to ensure implementation and community support for 19 provisions of this section requiring development of discipline policies, in-school 20 suspension, conflict resolution programs, teacher notification, behavioral intervention, 21 and reporting; 22 (5) procedures to ensure parental and guardian support for consistent 23 enforcement of the school's discipline policy; 24 (6) procedures to ensure that parents and guardians understand the 25 school's crisis response plan and procedures for addressing a crisis resulting from an 26 act of violence; 27 (7) minimum standards for pupil conduct and discipline; 28 (8) an annual review and assessment of the program's progress in 29 meeting its objectives; parents and guardians shall be notified by the school's principal 30 of the existence of this review and assessment by regular school communication 31 channels and shall be given a copy of the review and assessment on request.
01 (b) A classroom teacher may place a student in an in-school suspension 02 program for one day for disrupting the learning environment in a classroom. A teacher 03 may use this strategy five times in a school year with an individual student. If the 04 same student is removed from class more than three times in a single semester, the 05 school shall create a discipline team composed of the affected teachers, the student's 06 parent or guardian, the student, a school district counselor or school district 07 psychologist, and the school principal or the principal's designee. The discipline team 08 shall design a behavioral intervention plan to reduce disruptive behavior by the student. 09 The school principal and the student's teachers have joint responsibility for monitoring 10 the full implementation of a behavioral intervention plan. If a student continues to 11 display disruptive behavior, the school's discipline team shall modify the behavioral 12 intervention plan. A behavioral intervention plan may not preclude a student from 13 being removed from class if disruptive behavior warrants removal. 14 (c) Each school that has 200 or more students shall have a fully staffed in- 15 school suspension program. The program must educate and train students who have been 16 removed from class for disruptive behavior. For a school with less than 200 students, the 17 governing body shall provide a district-wide in-school suspension program to educate students 18 removed from class for disruptive behavior. A governing body shall provide adequate staff 19 and space and an appropriate curriculum to provide educational services to students removed 20 from class. A classroom for students who are suspended must have at least one certified 21 teacher for each 15 students. 22 (d) Each school shall have a conflict resolution program. A governing body 23 shall provide training in behavioral intervention strategies and methods for conflict 24 resolution. Beginning July 1, 2000, a governing body shall provide each student 25 enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade a curriculum in conflict resolution. The 26 curriculum must be appropriate for students at each grade level. Each school shall 27 have organized, ongoing programs designed to implement that school's conflict 28 resolution program. 29 (e) Each school principal shall give written notification to every teacher and 30 school administrator who the principal knows has contact with a student who has been 31 found guilty of, or adjudicated delinquent based on, an offense involving a deadly
01 weapon, assault upon persons, or another crime that is a felony. Notification must take 02 place before the student is enrolled or reenrolled in school. A governing body shall 03 require a parent or guardian to indicate on school enrollment forms if the enrolling 04 student has been expelled or suspended, or is currently subject to a proceeding for 05 behavior involving weapons, alcohol, drugs, or assault. In this subsection, "deadly 06 weapon" has the meaning given in AS 11.81.900. 07 (f) The department shall, upon request, provide resources to help teachers and 08 school employees with behavioral intervention strategies and shall provide school 09 districts with a professionally developed continuum of alternative educational programs 10 and services that emphasize prevention, early intervention, and long-term reduction of 11 disruptive and violent behavior in students. 12 (g) The governing body shall provide an annual report to the department on 13 school discipline and safety as a part of the report required under AS 14.03.120(a); the 14 report must include 15 (1) a summary of all incidents of suspension from school or placement 16 in the in-school suspension program; 17 (2) a record of students leaving school without completing requirements 18 for high school graduation, including each student who had been reported in attendance 19 by the school district for the previous attendance reporting period but who is no longer 20 reported as attending school; 21 (3) information on the reasons students give for leaving school, 22 including peer conflict, conflict with school staff, economic hardship, incarceration, a 23 guns or weapons incident, a drug or alcohol incident, age, gender, school site, or racial 24 or ethnic issues; and 25 (4) information described under AS 14.03.120(f)(4). 26 (h) In this section, "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 27 Sec. 14.30.058. Discipline and safety grant program. The discipline and 28 safety grant program is established in the department. A district may receive a grant 29 of up to $200 for each student enrolled in the district for the purpose of establishing 30 and maintaining the district's discipline and safety program. 31 * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect July 1, 1999.