SB1434

SECTION 1. The goal of this Act is to cultivate and maintain an environment in each of the State's public schools that is conducive to learning and respectful of the rights and responsibilities of the students, parents, and school teachers, administrators, and staff.

This is not the legislature's first attempt at making our schools the safe and nurturing places they need to be in order to provide our children with the educational opportunities they need and want. The legislature enacted Act 90, Session Laws of Hawaii 1996, and Act 274, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, to deal with "the rapid increase in the number of disruptive students in our public schools" and the "detrimental effect on those students seeking a quality education." In their detail, however, the acts focused primarily on "problems of student discipline that arise from substance abuse and violence on school campuses," and limited their prescriptions to excluding students who possessed or had engaged in incidents that involved dangerous weapons or illicit drugs, from school.

Essentially, efforts to create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to learning in the public schools thus far have concentrated on protecting members of each school's community from physical harm by expelling the threatening student, or treating them for alcohol or substance abuse. Attention now needs to be given to establishing a separate process for dealing with the growing number of non-violent yet equally disruptive incidents that detract from the majority's efforts to learn. To achieve this objective, this Act:

(1) Requires the department of education to designate or establish at least one school in each complex or regional administrative unit it establishes under section 302A-1102, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to serve as an alternative school for students whose behavior in the classroom, on a school's campus, or during their state-provided transport to or from school or to or from a school-sponsored activity disrupts or hinders the efforts of other students to learn;

(2) Vests the principal of each school with express and broad discretion to determine what the cause of each disruptive situation is and how best to respond to each student involved in a disruptive situation;

(3) Directs the University of Hawaii and the department of education, with assistance from the department of defense and outside experts, to develop strategies for conflict and classroom management, to alter or avoid disruptive behavior in students, and to train current and future teachers in their use; and

(4) Directs the department to revise its existing due process procedures to assure that the process used to deal with crime-related incidents is separate from the process used to deal with other disruptive situations, and to assure that each student involved in a disruptive situation that is not crime-related has an opportunity to persuade the principal that the student did not engage in disruptive behavior and that placement in the alternative school is not appropriate or justifiable.

The Act also attempts to make the laws relating to student behavior and school discipline clearer by defining "disruption," and reorganizing and consolidating existing provisions to avoid redundancy and minimize ambiguities.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A-____ Maintaining an environment conducive to learning. (a) The department shall designate or establish at least one school in each complex or regional administrative unit it establishes under section 302A-1102, to serve as an alternative school for students whose behavior in the classroom, on a school's campus, or during their state-provided transport to or from school or to or from a school-sponsored activity disrupts or hinders the efforts of other students to learn. The department may contract for the services of a private entity to administer and staff the alternative schools, or hire administrators, teachers, and staff for the school without regard for chapter 76 or 89 or part III of this chapter, provided that all teachers employed to teach at the school shall be licensed or certificated, or hired as emergency hires pursuant to sections 302A-801 to 302A-808.

(b) Reports of incidents that disrupt or hinder learning or the opportunity to learn at a public school, including incidents at public charter schools, and incidents on school buses transporting students to and from school, may be made orally or in writing to the school's principal by students, parents, and teachers, administrators, and school staff, including contracted school bus drivers. Within three school days of receiving the report, the principal shall determine whether

(1) Any of the students involved is a special education student or should be referred for a special education evaluation so that the statutes and rules related to special education apply;

(2) The incident involves a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or intoxicating liquor or illegal drugs such that the provisions of section 302A-1134 or 302A-1134.6 are applicable to any student involved in the incident;

(3) The incident involves prohibited student conduct or school-prohibited conduct under chapter 8-19 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules such that the provisions of those rules are applicable to any student involved in the incident; or

(4) The incident involves other behavior that disrupts or hinders learning at the school.

The principal shall provide a student who is determined to have been involved in an incident described in paragraph (4) with a written notice that specifies the basis for the principal's determination, and affords the student and the student's parents an opportunity to meet with the principal to respond to those findings and otherwise persuade the principal that the student was not involved in the incident, the student had not engaged in disruptive behavior, or that placement at the alternative school is inappropriate or not justifiable. If the principal does not change the initial determination, the principal shall arrange for the student's daily transportation to the alternative school if appropriate, and the student shall be enrolled in that school. The student shall have ten days from the date of the student's enrollment at the alternative school to appeal the principal's decision to the complex area superintendent. If an appeal is taken, the student's enrollment at the alternative school shall continue until the complex area superintendent renders a decision.

(c) The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 should any additional procedures need to be established to implement the provisions of this section. The rules shall be separate from the due process procedures applicable to crime-related incidents required to be reported under section 302A-1002, or incidents involving firearms, dangerous weapons, intoxicating liquor, or illegal drugs.

(d) The department with the assistance and cooperation of the University of Hawaii college of education, the state department of defense, and outside nationally recognized experts shall develop strategies for altering disruptive behavior by students, and for conflict and classroom management, and shall train current and future teachers, administrators, and staff in their use.

(e) For purposes of this section, the terms "disruption", "disruptive incident", "disruptive situation", "disruptive behavior", and "behavior that disrupts or hinders learning", refers to and includes but is not limited to, conduct not otherwise subject to the provisions of section 302A-1002, 302A-1134, or 302A-1134.6 or chapter 8-19 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules, that over a period of time interrupts or interferes with communications between and among students, teachers, and students and teachers, distracts students or teachers from reading, writing, listening, computing, or other learning activities, prevents students from engaging in learning activities, or jeopardizes the physical safety of students, teachers, administrators, or staff by preventing teachers, administrators, or staff from performing their duties. The terms do not refer to or include single or episodic interruptions, interferences, distractions, or incidents that prevent or jeopardize students from learning or teachers, administrators or staff from doing their work."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-1132, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-1132[]] Attendance compulsory; exceptions. (a) Unless excluded from school or excepted from attendance, all children who will have arrived at the age of at least six years, and who will not have arrived at the age of eighteen years, by January 1 of any school year, shall attend either a public or private school for, and during, the school year, and any parent, guardian, or other person having the responsibility for, or care of, a child whose attendance at school is obligatory shall send the child to either a public or private school. Attendance at a public or private school shall not be compulsory in the following cases:

(1) Where the child is physically or mentally unable to attend school (deafness and blindness excepted), of which fact the certificate of a duly licensed physician shall be sufficient evidence;

(2) Where the child, who has reached the fifteenth anniversary of birth, is suitably employed and has been excused from school attendance by the superintendent or the superintendent's authorized representative, or by a family court judge;

(3) Where, upon investigation by the family court, it has been shown that for any other reason the child may properly remain away from school;

(4) Where the child has graduated from high school;

(5) Where the child is enrolled in an appropriate alternative educational program as approved by the superintendent or the superintendent's authorized representative in accordance with the plans and policies of the department, or notification of intent to home school has been submitted to the principal of the public school that the child would otherwise be required to attend in accordance with department rules adopted to achieve this result; or

(6) Where[:

~~(A)~~ ~~The child has attained the age of sixteen years;~~

~~(B)~~ ~~The principal has determined that:~~

~~(i)~~ ~~The child has engaged in behavior which is disruptive to other students, teachers, or staff; or~~

~~(ii)~~ ~~The child's non-attendance is chronic and has become a significant factor that hinders the child's learning; and~~

~~(C)~~ The principal of the child's school, and the child's teacher or counselor, in consultation with the child and the child's parent, guardian, or other adult having legal responsibility for or care of the child, develops an alternative educational plan for the child. The alternative educational plan shall include a process that shall permit the child to resume school.

The principal of the child's school shall file the plan made pursuant to subparagraph (C) with the child's school record. If the adult having legal responsibility for or care of the child disagrees with the plan, then the adult shall be responsible for obtaining appropriate educational services for the child.] the child has been excluded from school pursuant to section 302A-1134.6 or 302A-_____.

(b) Any employer who employs a child who is excused from school attendance in accordance with subsection (a)(2) shall notify the child's school within three days upon termination of the child's employment.

(c) No child who is seventeen years of age or over shall be admitted to the ninth grade of a public four-year high school, and no child who is eighteen years of age or over shall be admitted to the tenth grade of a public senior high school, except upon the written permission of the superintendent when in the superintendent's opinion the facts warrant admission."

SECTION 4. Section 302A-1134, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-1134 Exclusion from school. (a) [If for any reason a child becomes a detriment to the morals or discipline of any school, the child may be precluded from attending school by the principal, with the approval of the complex area superintendent. The department shall seek the active participation of other public and private agencies in providing help to these children before and after they have left school. An appeal may be taken on behalf of the child to the superintendent of education within ten days from the date of such action.] Any child who, while attending school, violates the department's duly adopted rules of conduct, who violates the school's rules issued in accordance with the department's rules of conduct, or who violates classroom rules approved by the principal of the school may be excluded from school in accordance with the provisions of those rules.

(b) Any child who, while attending school, is found to be in possession of a firearm, shall be excluded from attending school for not less than one year. The due process procedures of chapter [~~19 of the Department of Education,~~] 8-19 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules[,] shall apply to any child who, while attending school, is alleged to be in possession of a firearm. The superintendent, on a case-by-case basis, may modify the exclusion of a child found to be in possession of a firearm while attending school. If a child is excluded from attending school, the superintendent shall ensure that substitute educational activities or other appropriate assistance shall be provided. The superintendent shall submit to the United States Department of Education, the state board of education, and the legislature an annual report indicating the number of students excluded, the types of firearms found in their possession, and the schools from which they were excluded.

[(c) No child who is seventeen years of age or over shall be admitted to the ninth grade of a public four-year high school, and no child who is eighteen years of age or over shall be admitted to the tenth grade of a public senior high school, except upon the written permission of the superintendent when in the superintendent's opinion the facts warrant admission.]"

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1434
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII