Report Title:

Teacher Bill of Rights; Exclusion of Disruptive & Violent Pupils

Description:

Allows a teacher or driver in charge to exclude from the teacher's classroom or the driver in charge's school bus any pupil who: is guilty of disorderly conduct; interferes with an orderly educational process; threatens, abuses, or intimidates a school employee; willfully disobeys a school employee; or uses abusive or profane language directed at a school employee.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1973

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part IV, subpart C to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A-A Authority of teachers and other school employees; exclusion of chronically disruptive pupils and violent pupils. (a) The teacher shall stand in the place of the parents, guardians, or custodians in exercising authority over the school and shall have control of all pupils enrolled in the school from the time the pupils reach the school until the pupils have left the school.

Where transportation of pupils is provided, the driver in charge of the school bus or other mode of transportation shall exercise this authority and control over the pupils while the pupils are in transit to and from the school.

(b) The teacher or driver in charge, as the case may be, shall exclude from the teacher's classroom or the driver in charge's school bus any pupil who:

(1) Engages in disorderly conduct;

(2) In any manner interferes with an orderly educational process;

(3) Threatens, abuses, or otherwise intimidates or attempts to intimidate a school employee or a pupil;

(4) Wilfully disobeys a school employee; or

(5) Uses abusive or profane language directed at a school employee.

(c) Any pupil excluded shall be placed under the control of the principal of the school or a designee. The excluded pupil may be admitted to the classroom or school bus only when the principal, or a designee, provides written certification to the teacher that the pupil must be re-admitted and specifies the specific type of disciplinary action, if any, that was taken.

If the principal finds that disciplinary action is warranted, the principal shall provide written and, if possible, telephonic notice of this action to the parents, guardians, or custodians of the pupil.

(d) When a teacher or driver in charge excludes the same pupil from the teacher's classroom or from a school bus, as the case may be, three times in any twelve-month period, and after exhausting all reasonable methods of classroom discipline provided in the school discipline plan, the pupil may be re-admitted to the teacher's classroom only after:

(1) The principal, teacher, and, if possible, the parents, guardians, or custodians of the pupil have held a conference to discuss the pupil's disruptive behavior patterns; and

(2) The teacher and the principal agree on a course of discipline for the pupil and inform the parents, guardians, or custodians of the course of action.

(e) If the pupil's disruptive behavior persists, then upon the teacher's request or with the concurrence of the teacher, the principal, to the extent feasible, shall transfer the pupil to an alternative educational setting or placement.

If the teacher and the principal cannot agree on a course of discipline for the pupil, then the principal, to the extent feasible, shall temporarily transfer the pupil to another regular classroom or to an alternative educational setting or placement; provided that the pupil may be temporarily transferred to another regular classroom only with the concurrence of that other classroom's teacher.

(f) The department shall ensure that a continuum of alternative educational settings or placements, from least restrictive to most restrictive, is available to meet the educational needs of chronically disruptive pupils and violent pupils.

To the maximum extent appropriate, chronically disruptive pupils shall be educated in the least restrictive alternative educational setting or placement. Chronically disruptive pupils shall not be placed in the same alternative educational setting or placement as violent pupils.

(g) If a pupil's behavior in an alternative educational setting or placement, even with the provision of appropriate behavioral supports, strategies, or interventions, will substantially impair the learning of other pupils, then that alternative educational setting or placement does not meet the pupil's educational needs and is not appropriate for that pupil.

A chronically disruptive pupil shall not be removed from education in age-appropriate or academically appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modifications in the general curriculum.

(h) For the purposes of this section:

"Alternative educational setting or placement" includes time-out rooms, in-school suspension, short-term and long-term alternative classes and schools, and correctional institutions for criminal offenders.

"Disruptive behavior" includes violent behavior."

SECTION 2. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

SECTION 3. The department of education shall adopt new rules, or amend current rules, pursuant to chapter 91, to effect the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act is not intended to create a private cause of action.

SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

_____________________________