Bill Text: MA H431 | 2009-2010 | 186th General Court | Introduced
Bill Title: Discipline in the public schools and establishing alternative education programs
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-08-16 - Accompanied a study order, see H04989 [H431 Detail]
Download: Massachusetts-2009-H431-Introduced.html
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Kevin G. Honan
_______________
To the
Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to safe schools.
_______________
PETITION OF:
Name: |
District/Address: |
Kevin G. Honan |
17th Suffolk |
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS
SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 455 OF 2007-2008.]
The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
_______________
In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
_______________
An Act
relative to safe schools.
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court
assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition,
is hereby amended by inserting after Sections 37H and 37H1/2 thereof the
following new section:—
Section 37H3/4. (a) A teacher may send a student to the principal’s office to
maintain effective discipline in the classroom. The principal shall respond by
employing appropriate discipline management techniques consistent with the
student code of conduct adopted under Section 37H, which shall include
conditions that authorize or require a principal or other appropriate
administrator to transfer a student to an alternative education program as
provided by subsection (d). A teacher may remove from class a student who has
been documented by the teacher to repeatedly interfere with the teacher’s
ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the
ability of the student’s classmates to learn; or whose behavior the teachers
determines is so unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it seriously interferes
with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students in the
class or with the ability of the student’s classmates to learn. If a teacher
removes a student from class the principal may place the student into in-school
suspension or into an alternative education program. The terms of the removal
may prohibit the student from attending or participating in school-sponsored or
school-related activity. The principal may not return the student to that
teacher’s class without the teacher’s consent unless the committee established
under subsection (b) determines that such placement is the best or only
alternative available.
(b) Each school shall establish a three-member committee to determine placement
of a student when a teacher refuses the return of a student to the teacher’s
class and make recommendations to the district regarding re-admission of
expelled students. Members shall be appointed as follows: (1) the campus
faculty shall choose two teachers to serve as members and one teacher to serve
as an alternate member; and, (2) the principal shall choose one member from the
professional staff of a campus. The teacher refusing to re-admit the student
may not serve on the committee.
(c) A student shall be removed from class and placed in an alternative
education program if the student engages in conduct that contains the elements
of the offense of retaliation against any school employee.
The terms of a placement under this section must prohibit the student from
attending or participating in a school-sponsored or school related activity.
(d) Each school district shall provide an alternative education program that is
provided in a setting other than a student’s regular classroom; is located on
or off of a regular school campus; provides for the students who are assigned
to the alternative education program to be separated from students who are not
assigned to the program; focuses on English language arts, mathematics,
science, history, and self-discipline; provides for students’ educational and
behavioral needs; provides supervision and counseling; and, has as a program
goal zero tolerance for school violence. An alternative education program may
provide for a student’s transfer to: a different campus, a school-community
guidance center or a community-based alternative school. A school district may
provide an alternative education program jointly with one or more other districts.
Each school district shall cooperate with government agencies and community
organizations that provide services in the district to students placed in an
alternative education program. A student removed to an alternative education
program is counted in computing the average daily attendance of students in the
district for the student’s time in actual attendance in the program.
A school district may not place a student in an unsupervised setting as a
result of conduct for which a student may be placed in an alternative education
program.
(e) On request of a school district, the department of education shall provide
to the district information on developing an alternative education program that
takes into consideration the district’s size, wealth, and existing facilities
in determining the program best suited to the district. The board of education
shall establish an alternative education grant program to make grant awards to
school districts that have received approval for their alternative education
plans. A school district shall allocate to an alternative education program the
same expenditure per student attending the alternative education program,
including federal, state, and local funds, that would be allocated to the
student’s school if the student were attending the student’s regularly assigned
education program, including a special education program.
(f) If a student placed in an alternative education program enrolls in another
school district before the expiration of the period of placement the superintendent
of the district requiring the placement shall provide to the district in which
the student enrolls, at the same time other records of the student are
provided, a copy of the placement order. The district in which the student
enrolls may continue the alternative education program placement under the
terms of the order or may allow the student to attend regular classes without
completing the period of placement.
(g) A program of educational and support services may be provided to a student
and the student’s parents when an offense involves drugs or alcohol.