YOUR STUDENTS
Student discipline and violence Student discipline and violence issues encompass a broad range of conduct, ranging from isolated and minor disruption to violent behavior. Laws governing student discipline and violence may alter your responsibilities regarding instruction and identification of students with significant behavioral or mental health issues and may require you to make decisions that impact the health and safety of students and teachers. As always, if a situation arises where you feel concerned about your options and/or legal rights and responsibilities regarding student discipline and classroom safety, please call TCTA’s Legal Department at 888879-8282.
Student code of conduct
School districts and open-enrollment charter schools must develop student codes of conduct (SCCs) in conjunction with district-level and site-based decision-making committees. SCCs operate in conjunction with the discretionary and mandatory sanctions outlined in Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code. Teachers can expect administrators and the board to enforce the student code of conduct. The law requires the SCC to specify that consideration will be given to mitigating factors (self-defense, intent, disciplinary history, etc.) when determining whether a student will be suspended, expelled or removed to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) or juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP), regardless of whether the decision relates to a mandatory or discretionary removal. The SCC must also include provisions regarding actions that would result in a student’s removal from a school bus. State law designates the SCC as the appropriate place for campuses to indicate if the use of progressive sanctions, and what those progressive sanctions will be, are the responsibility of the campus behavior coordinator (see below).
Campus behavior coordinators
A 2015 law initiated by TCTA requires each campus to have a designated campus behavior coordinator. This person may be the principal or other campus administrator selected by the principal, and will be the administrator primarily responsible for maintaining student discipline. Though district or campus policy establishes specific duties, the law states that a teacher may send a student to the CBC’s office to maintain discipline. The CBC must respond by using appropriate discipline management techniques that can reasonably be expected to improve behavior before the student may be returned to class. If the student’s behavior does not improve, alternate techniques must be used. Unfortunately, some Districts of Innovation have chosen to exempt themselves from this provision. Districts are now required to post on their website the email address and dedicated phone number for the person clearly identified as the campus behavior coordinator. If the district is exempt from the requirement to designate a CBC under a DOI plan, the district must post contact information for the campus administrator
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designated as being responsible for student discipline.
Discipline professional development
Administrators who oversee student discipline must, at least once every three years, attend training on school discipline laws, including distinctions between a principal’s discretionary discipline management technique and a teacher’s discretionary authority to remove a disruptive student from the classroom.
Teacher removal of students from class
State law gives teachers the means to protect a disciplined environment. Teachers can remove from class students who continuously or seriously disrupt learning. This process is a different, more formal process for addressing student discipline that is separate from sending a student to the CBC. A principal can assign the student to a DAEP, suspend or expel the student, or put the student in another teacher’s class. A teacher can refuse a student’s return to class, subject only to the right of the campus placement review committee to place the student back in the class as the best or only alternative placement. TCTA-initiated legislation ensures that a student may not be returned to a teacher’s class without the teacher’s consent if the student had been removed by the teacher for assault causing bodily injury to the teacher. The teacher may not be coerced to consent, and the decision may not be overturned
