Relating to education, including by modifying provisions related to the duties of the department of education; the discipline of students enrolled in school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools who cause violent or nonviolent disruptions; the responsibilities and powers of the department of education, school district teachers, and other educational staff related to students who have individualized education programs or plans under section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act; school district professional development plans; and authorizing teachers to request a meeting of a student’s individualized education program team

65A to require school districts and charter schools to adopt, in collaboration with teachers and administrative staff employed by the school, policies for different grade levels that describe how a school may discipline a student for causing a violent disruption or nonviolent disruption. The bill defines “nonviolent disruption” to include a disruption to classroom instruction that is a result of disorderly conduct, abusive or profane language, bullying, or repeatedly disruptive behavior. The bill defines “violent disruption” to include a disruption to classroom instruction that is a result of a threat of violence or an incident of violence that results in injury, property damage, or assault. The policies must be consistent with the provisions of Code chapter 256B (special education) and rules adopted by the state board of education for purposes of Code chapter 256B and with certain specified federal laws. The policies must require each attendance center within the school district to create an oversight review committee that is responsible for determining when a student who was removed from the classroom pursuant to the bill’s provisions may return to the classroom. The bill establishes the membership of the oversight review committee. The policies must authorize a teacher to remove a student who causes a nonviolent disruption from the teacher’s classroom and locate the student under the supervision of the principal for at least minutes. A student who is removed from the classroom pursuant to this provision is required to make up any work that the student missed while the student was under the supervision of the principal. In addition, the policies must prohibit the principal from returning a student who is removed from the classroom to the teacher’s classroom without the teacher’s consent, unless the oversight review committee determines that the student should be returned to the classroom. The policies must also require the principal to inform the teacher of the disciplinary actions taken against the student who was removed from the classroom as soon as is reasonably possible after the student’s removal. The policies must require that if a student is removed from the classroom more than once in one school year, the teacher, a qualified guidance counselor, the student’s parent or legal guardian, if the student is not an emancipated minor, and the student are required to participate in a meeting to discuss the student’s nonviolent disruptions and to establish a behavioral plan and a course of discipline to correct the student’s behavior, which may include locating the student in an alternative learning environment. The policies must require a teacher to remove a student who causes a violent disruption from the teacher’s classroom and place the student under the supervision of the principal. The policies must prohibit the principal from returning a student who is removed from the classroom pursuant to this provision to the teacher’s classroom without the teacher’s consent, unless the oversight review committee determines that the student should be returned to the classroom. However, the oversight review committee shall not have the authority to require a student to return to a teacher’s classroom if the teacher removed the student from the teacher’s classroom because the student caused a violent disruption that included the student assaulting the teacher, and the teacher does not consent to allowing the student to return to the teacher’s classroom. The policies must require that a student removed from the classroom pursuant to this provision be suspended, expelled, or located in an alternative learning environment. The bill requires each principal, or principal’s designee, to carry out the principal’s or principal’s designee’s responsibilities under the bill’s provisions in an expeditious manner and to promptly carry out all manifestation determination review meetings after a student is located into a new learning environment; impose the appropriate amount of punishment when the student’s violent disruption or nonviolent disruption is determined to not be a manifestation of the student’s disability; and perform functional behavior assessments and adjust behavioral intervention plans as needed. The bill provides that if a student who has an individualized education program is removed from the classroom pursuant to the bill’s provisions, then the student’s individualized education program team is required to meet within days after the removal to determine whether an alternative educational location is best for the student. The teacher who removed the student from the classroom is required to participate in this meeting and must have the opportunity to provide input related to the potential revision of the student’s individualized education program. The bill establishes topics the student’s individualized education program team is required to discuss during this meeting. If, after considering the least restrictive environment requirements under applicable federal law, the individualized education program team determines that the nature or severity of the student’s disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily, then the student must be located into an alternative learning environment that best suits the student’s educational needs. The bill requires that information related to the student’s violent disruptions and nonviolent disruptions be incorporated, as necessary, into the student’s individualized education program, behavioral intervention plan, and other similar documents. The bill makes conforming changes.