H. B. 4487
(By Delegates Frazier, Perry, Stowers and Shaver)
[Introduced February 12, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-48, relating to
the reporting of assaults, batteries and other incidents on
school property, during school hours or during school
activities to local juvenile authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-48, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-48. Reporting of assaults, batteries and other incidents.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following words and
phrases shall have the following respective meanings, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Incident" means any act of physical violence, with or
without a weapon, assault, act of intimidation or battery:
(A) On school property;
(B) During school activities, on or off school property; or
(C) At any other times when such incident can be reasonably
related to school functions.
(2) "Assault" has the same meaning as is ascribed to that term
in subsection (b), section nine, article two, chapter sixty-one of
this code.
(3) "Battery" has the same meaning as is ascribed to that
term in subsection (c), section nine, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code.
(4) "Principal" means the principal or top administrator of
any public middle, junior or senior high school at which the
incident occurred.
(5) "County superintendent" means the superintendent of the
county board of education in the county in which the school is
located.
(6) "Report" means a written narrative report of an incident,
the number and names and addresses of persons involved, and the
names, addresses and phone numbers of their parents, in the
incident, the type of any weapon involved and a description of any
injury or damage resulting from the incident. The report shall also contain the names and addresses of all persons known to be
present at the time of said incident and the action, if any, taken
by the school.
(7) "Teacher" and "other employee" means an employee of any
public middle, junior or senior high school at which the incident
occurred.
(8) "County board of education" means the local board of
education in the county in which the school is located.
(9) "Juvenile probation authority" means that division of a
county circuit court that specifically deals with juveniles of the
county in which the school is located.
(b) It is the intention of the Legislature to require
principals, teachers and other school employees of public middle,
junior and senior high schools to make reports of disruptive
incidents occurring on school property during school hours or
during school activities conducted on or off school property after
school hours or at any other time when such incident can be
reasonably related to the school or school functions.
(c) Principals shall file a report within forty-eight hours
with the county superintendent and the juvenile probation authority
of any incident of which they have knowledge.
(d) Teachers and other school employees shall immediately
report to the principal any incident of which they have knowledge. The teacher and employee shall assist the principal in the
preparation of the report required under subsection (c) of this
section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to improve security at state
schools by requiring the reporting of assaults, batteries and other
incidents on school property, during school hours or during school
activities to the appropriate local juvenile authority. The bill
will enable the county schools and juvenile probation officers to
track and curb incidents of disruptive behavior of students.
This section is new; therefore, it has been completely
underscored.