HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 78
(By Delegates Campbell, Williams, Crosier, Eldridge, Fragale,
Louisos, Paxton, Perry, Poling, Spencer, Stephens, Wysong,
Canterbury, Lane, and Stevens)
[Originating in the Committee on Education]
(February 28, 2006)
Requesting the West Virginia Board of Education to establish a
pilot program of structured in-school alternatives to
enforce the Student Code of Conduct.
Whereas, information presented by the Department of
Education to the interim Subcommittee on Alternative Education of
Education Subcommittee B disclosed that during the 2004-05 school
year 36,923 students, or about 13% of the students enrolled, were
excluded from the classroom at least once for infractions of the
Student Code of Conduct and that 25,474 of these students, or
about 9% of the students enrolled, were given at least one out-
of-school suspension and may have also been otherwise excluded
from the classroom for other infractions of the Student Code of
Conduct; and
Whereas, the Legislature finds that the Student Code of
Conduct is an essential tool for protecting a safe and productive
learning environment for all students, the Legislature also finds
that an over-reliance on out-of-school suspensions and non-structured exclusions from the classroom to enforce the Student
Code of Conduct often contributes to a downward spiral of missed
instruction, growing misbehavior and failure for a large number
of those students who run afoul of the rules; and
Whereas, the Legislature finds that the enforcement of
discipline in the public schools is largely a local prerogative,
that the county school systems should have flexibility to
implement programs that meet the needs of their student
population, and that, as a consequence, there is a wide variety
among the counties in the structure and scope of programs for
students excluded from the classroom, the Legislature also finds
that the structure and scope of these programs is often tempered
by the availability of the necessary resources, support systems,
guidelines and program models to implement effective programs
that keep students in school and engaged in the learning process;
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the West Virginia Board of Education is hereby
requested to establish a pilot program of structured in-school
alternatives to enforce the Student Code of Conduct that
includes, but is not limited to, the following elements:
(1) The selection of four secondary schools from different
counties served by different Regional Education Service Agencies,
the selection of which shall be based upon indicators of the need for improvement as demonstrated by large numbers of out-of-
school suspensions and other non-structured exclusions from the
regular classroom and low performance on other measures of
student and school performance and progress. The final
selections shall be made after consultation with the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability;
(2) The design of in-school, structured alternatives for
enforcement of the Student Code of Conduct at the schools
selected which shall include both an instructional component and
a discipline improvement component through which the student may
gain readmittance to the regular classroom. The Board shall
consult with the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability before implementation of the programs and may
propose variations in program design for the different schools to
appropriately meet their specific needs; and
(3) A method for monitoring the progress, evaluating the
success and reporting the results of the pilot program to the
Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.