By Steven Allen Adams, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate’s long anticipated student discipline bill focused on elementary school grades easily passed on Monday, but it might not have it so easy in the House of Delegates whose similar bill has seen no movement in the Senate.
Senate Bill 614 relating to elementary behavior intervention and safety passed the Senate Monday morning in a 32-1 vote, sending the bill to the House. Only House Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan, voted no.
SB 614 would require students in kindergarten through sixth grade to be placed in a county behavioral intervention program if their behavior in the classroom is violent, threatening or intimidating toward staff and other students and impedes the learning environment. The intervention program could either be through the county school system or with a neighboring system.
Students would be placed in behavioral intervention programs at the discretion of the teacher, principal and vice principal. If there is a disagreement between the teacher and administrators, a teacher can appeal to the county superintendent. The bill also would not override provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
For counties without behavioral intervention programs, students would be removed from the classroom following the incidents and suspended from school for the next one to three days while alternative learning accommodations are made, with the student receiving instruction through alternative learning.
Parents would be required to pick up the student either immediately or by the end of the school day. The student would be prohibited from returning home by school bus. Law enforcement would be notified of any student not picked up by a parent or guardian by the end of the school day.