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S.F. No. 2920 - Nonexclusionary Pupil Discipline Policies and Practices
 
Author: Senator Eric R. Pratt
 
Prepared By: Ann Marie Lewis, Senate Counsel (651/296-5301)
 
Date: March 2, 2018



 

Section 1. Nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices; alternatives to pupil removal and dismissal. Defines “Nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices” as policies and practices that are alternatives to removing a pupil from class or dismissing a pupil from school.  They include positive behavioral interventions and supports and alternative education services.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 2. Policy. Encourages school officials to use nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices before beginning dismissal proceedings.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 3. Grounds for dismissal.

Subdivision 1. Provision of alternative programs. Directs the school to provide alternative educational services or use nonexclusionary disciplinary practices before dismissal proceedings.

Subdivision 1a. Definitions. Defines “willful” or “willfully” as deliberate, intentional, and knowing.

Subdivision 2. Grounds for dismissal. Provides technical changes.

Subdivision 3. Strikes the subdivision.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 4. Administrator notifies pupil of grounds for suspension. Clarifies that the administrator must inform that they are not required to present their version of the facts and ask questions at the informal administrative conference before a suspension.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 5. Written notice of grounds for suspension. Clarifies what is contained in a written notice of grounds for suspension and how it is to be served on the pupil and their parents or guardian. Requires the notice include documents indicated the nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices used with the pupil, the length of the suspension, and a request for a meeting with the pupil’s parent or guardian consistent with subdivision 3a.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

 Section 6. Parent notification and meeting; suspension; mental health screening. (a) Requires a school official to make reasonable attempts to convene a meeting with the pupil and their parent or guardian within 30 days of a suspension.  State the purpose of the meeting as engaging the pupil’s parent or guardian in developing a plan to help the pupil succeed in school by addressing the behavior that led to the dismissal.

(b) If a pupil’s total days of removal from school exceed ten cumulative days, the school district must attempt to convene a meeting with the pupil and their parent or guardian to arrange for mental health screening for the pupil if the parent consents.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 7. Minimum education services. Requires a school official to give a suspended pupil the opportunity to complete all school work assigned during the pupil’s suspension and to receive credit for satisfactorily completing the assignments. Encourages the school principal to designate a liaison to work with the pupil’s teachers to allow the suspended pupil to receive timely course materials and complete daily and weekly assignments and receive teachers’ feedback.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 8. Written notice. Makes technical changes and requires the written notice of expulsion to explain the grounds for expelling the pupil instead of imposing nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 9. Exclusions and expulsions; physical assaults. Requires the school district report to the Commissioner to include each verbal or written agreement of a parent or guardian to withdraw a pupil from the school or district instead of having the pupil excluded or expelled. Requires the report to identify:

  1. the pupil’s behavior leading to the discipline;
  2. the nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices used, if applicable;
  3. any attempts to provide the pupil with alternative education services before excluding or expelling the pupil;
  4. the effective date of the disciplinary action; and
  5. the duration of the exclusion or expulsion.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 10. Policies to be established. Makes technical changes. Requires the district to report on its policy on the appropriate use of school resource officers.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 11. Discipline and removal of pupils from class. Makes technical changes. Amends the requirement that the district discipline policy includes minimum consequences for violations of the rules to require that potential consequences are included in the policy. Requires the policy to include parental notification requirements. Requires a meeting with a pupil’s parent or guardian to discuss the problem causing the pupil’s removal from class after the pupil has been removed from class more than five, instead of ten, times in one school year.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 12. Parent notification. Requires a school administrator to make and document efforts to immediately contact the parent or guardian of a pupil removed from a school building or school grounds by a peace or school resource officer unless the notice is specifically prohibited by law.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

AMB/syl

 
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