Students; expulsion for certain drug offenses. (HB1867)

Introduced By

Del. Roxann Robinson (R-Chesterfield) with support from co-patrons Del. Dickie Bell (R-Staunton), and Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Expulsion of students for certain drug offenses. Permits local school boards to consider for expulsion from school attendance students determined to have brought certain drugs onto school property or to a school-sponsored activity. Under current law, expulsion is mandatory under such scenarios unless the school board determines that special circumstances exist and that another disciplinary action is appropriate. The bill further permits a school administrator to consider certain special circumstances and the facts of such a case and determine that no disciplinary action or another disciplinary action is appropriate but also permits the school board to require a school administrator to refer such a case to the school board. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/08/2013Committee
01/08/2013Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/13 13103528D
01/08/2013Referred to Committee on Education
01/11/2013Assigned Education sub: Students and Early Education
02/05/2013Left in Education

Comments

stephen writes:

But yet not one word in this bill to give parents the tools they need to keep their kids away from these Drug dealers. Doesn't she care about kids?

ACLU-VA Students' Rights, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU of VA supports this bill because it rolls back a zero-tolerance discipline policy that is a key part of the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems - also known as the "school to prison pipeline." The bill restores disciplinary discretion to school-level administrators for drug offenses. There is no evidence that zero-tolerance policies make schools safer or improve student behavior. On the contrary, research suggests that the overuse of suspensions and expulsions may actually increase the likelihood of later criminal misconduct. Overly harsh disciplinary policies push students down the pipeline and into the juvenile justice system.