Senate Bill No. 67
(By Senators Bailey, By Request, and Mitchell)
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[Introduced January 13, 1999; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article five, chapter
eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; relating to permitting
corporal punishment in public schools.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article five, chapter eighteen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. AUTHORITY; RIGHTS; RESPONSIBILITY.
§18A-5-1. Authority of teachers and other school personnel;
exclusion of pupils having infectious diseases; suspension or expulsion of disorderly pupils; corporal punishment abolished.
(a) The teacher shall stand in the place of the parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s) in exercising authority over the
school, and shall have control of all pupils enrolled in the
school from the time they reach the school until they have
returned to their respective homes, except that where
transportation of pupils is provided, the driver in charge of the
school bus or other mode of transportation shall exercise such
the authority and control over the children while they are in
transit to and from the school.
(b) Subject to the rules of the state board of education,
the teacher shall exclude from the school any pupil or pupils
known to have or suspected of having any infectious disease, or
any pupil or pupils who have been exposed to such the disease,
and shall immediately notify the proper health officer, or
medical inspector, of such the exclusion. Any pupil so excluded
shall not be readmitted to the school until such the pupil has
complied with all the requirements of the rules governing such
those cases, or has presented a certificate of health signed by
the medical inspector or other proper health officer.
(c) The teacher shall have authority to exclude from his or her classroom or school bus, any pupil who is guilty of
disorderly conduct; who in any manner interferes with an orderly
educational process; who threatens, abuses or otherwise
intimidates or attempts to intimidate a school employee or a
pupil; or who willfully disobeys a school employee; or who uses
abusive or profane language directed at a school employee. Any
pupil excluded shall be placed under the control of the principal
of the school or a designee. The excluded pupil may be admitted
to the classroom or school bus only when the principal, or a
designee, provides written certification to the teacher that the
pupil may be readmitted and specifies the specific type of
disciplinary action, if any, which was taken. If the principal
finds that disciplinary action is warranted, he shall provide
written and, if possible, telephonic notice of such the action to
the parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s). When a teacher
excludes the same pupil from his or her classroom or from a
school bus three times in one school year, and after exhausting
all reasonable methods of classroom discipline provided in the
school discipline plan, the pupil may be readmitted to the
teacher's classroom only after the principal, teacher and, if possible, the parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s) of the pupil
have held a conference to discuss the pupil's disruptive behavior
patterns, and the teacher and the principal agree on a course of
discipline for the pupil and inform the parent(s), guardian(s) or
custodian(s) of the course of action. Thereafter, if the pupil's
disruptive behavior persists, upon the teacher's request, the
principal may, to the extent feasible, transfer the pupil to
another setting.
(d) Corporal punishment of any pupil by a school employee is
prohibited. The principal shall have the authority to administer
moderate corporal punishment by means of the open hand or a
paddle subject to the following restrictions:
(1) Corporal punishment should be administered only as a
last resort after use of alternative methods of discipline have
failed to correct the inappropriate pupil behavior;
(2) Pupils are informed of the rules and regulations that
govern the school;
(3) The pupil is informed of the school rule or rules
allegedly violated and is given an opportunity to explain his or
her behavior prior to the administration of corporal punishment;
(4) Punishment is administered without anger or malice. The
amount of physical force used is not wanton or in excess of the
offense, is suitable to the pupil's age and mental and physical
conditions and is applied without discrimination;
(5) The punishment is administered by the school principal
or by a specific designee authorized by the principal to
administer the punishment and in either case in the presence of
another adult professional employee and not in the presence of
another pupil;
(6) The punishment is administered by use of the open hand
or paddle to the buttocks;
(7) A report which includes a description of the pupil's
conduct prompting the use of corporal punishment and the name of
the witness is attempted to be made informally by telephone or
notice sent with the child to the parent or guardian at least
twelve hours prior to administration of the corporal punishment
and is made orally in the school office by the end of the school
day and a written report is filed in the school office within
twenty four hours of the incident;
(8) The parent or guardian of the pupil is notified in writing of each instance of corporal punishment within three
school days;
(9) Each school principal shall be responsible for the
maintenance of discipline in his school;
(10) Corporal punishment shall not be administered to a
pupil: (a) Identified as handicapped, learning, hearing, mentally
or behaviorally disabled; or (b) whose parent has petitioned in
writing to the school principal that corporal punishment not be
administered to the pupil and attached a certificate from a
physician that by reason of a physical or emotional condition the
pupil should not be subjected to corporal punishment; or (c) if
medical information available to school authorities indicates
that the pupil should not be subjected to corporal punishment.
(e) The West Virginia board of education and county boards
of education shall adopt policies consistent with the provisions
of this section encouraging the use of alternatives to corporal
punishment, providing for the training of school personnel in
alternatives to corporal punishment and for the involvement of
parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s) in the maintenance of
school discipline. The county boards of education shall provide for the immediate incorporation and implementation in the schools
of a preventive discipline program, which may include the
responsible student program, and a student involvement program,
which may include the peer mediation program, devised by the West
Virginia board of education. Each board may modify such the
programs to meet the particular needs of the county. The county
boards shall provide in-service training for teachers and
principals relating to assertive discipline procedures and
conflict resolution. The county boards of education may also
establish cooperatives with private entities to provide middle
educational programs, which may include programs focusing on
developing individual coping skills, conflict resolution, anger
control, self-esteem issues, stress management and decision
making for students and any other program related to preventive
discipline.
(f) For the purpose of this section: (1) "Pupil or student"
shall include any child, youth or adult who is enrolled in any
instructional program or activity conducted under board
authorization and within the facilities of or in connection with
any program under public school direction: Provided, That in the case of adults the pupil-teacher relationship shall terminate
when the pupil leaves the school or other place of instruction or
activity; (2) "teacher" shall mean all professional educators as
defined in section one, article one of this chapter and shall
include the driver of a school bus or other mode of
transportation.
(g) Teachers shall exercise such any other authority and
perform such other or duties as may be prescribed for them by law
or by the rules of the state board of education not inconsistent
with the provisions of this chapter and chapter eighteen of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow corporal
punishment in public schools.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.