H. B. 2684
(By Delegates Damron, Heck, Stemple, Hubbard, Pettit and
Tillis)
[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article two, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to prohibiting any
person from interfering with the duties of a school employee
or verbally abusing a school employee through the use of
profane language while that school employee is engaged in
the discharge of his or her duties; penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article two, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-15. Assault, battery on school employees; interference with duties of school employees; profane verbal
abuse of school employees; penalties.
(a) If any person commits an assault by unlawfully attempting
to commit a violent injury to the person of a school employee or
by unlawfully committing an act which places a school employee in
reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent
injury, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, shall be confined in jail not less than five days nor
more than six months and fined not less than fifty dollars nor
more than one hundred dollars.
(b) If any person commits a battery by unlawfully and
intentionally making physical contact of an insulting or
provoking nature with the person of a school employee or by
unlawfully and intentionally causing physical harm to a school
employee, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, shall be confined in jail not less than ten days nor
more than twelve months and fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
(c) It is unlawful for any unauthorized person to interfere
with, or otherwise impede, the activities of a school employee
while that school employee is engaged in the discharge of his or
her duties.
(d) It is unlawful for any person to verbally abuse, through the use of profanity, any school employee while that school
employee is engaged in the discharge of his or her duties. (e) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (c) or
(d) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars, or imprisoned in the county or regional jail not more
than six months, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) (f) For the purposes of this section, "school employee"
means a person employed by a county board of education whether
employed on a regular full-time basis, an hourly basis or
otherwise if, at the time of the commission of any offense
provided for in this section, such person is engaged in the
performance of his or her duties or is commuting to or from his
or her place of employment. For the purposes of this section, a
"school employee" shall be deemed to include a student teacher.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit any person from
interfering with a school employee or verbally abusing a school
employee through the use of profanity while that school employee
is engaged in the discharge of his or her duties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.