Action Alert on School Discipline Issues

[Guest guest]

The Senate Education committee yesterday (3-15) heard Senate Bill 126 by

. Due in large part to the two parents who testified, Eddie (The

Woodlands) and ez (San ), the hearing went better than I

expected. The bill was not passed out of committee, in part because Senator

said he is still working on some " language changes. "

This is an especially important bill for the protection of students with

disabilities because it includes language that prevents a school district from

punishing a student for certain

offenses unless the school believes the student had the " culpable mental state "

required

for that offense under the Penal Code. This would go a long way to protecting

students who are currently being punished for behaviors that are clearly a

function of their disability.

Supporters should let Senator know they want him to keep the " culpable

mental state " provision in the bill. Several of the people testifying asked

for that section to be removed.

Supporters should also let Representative Dora Olivo's office know of their

support. She is the author of the " companion bill " , HB 624. There will be a

hearing on HB 624 in the House

Public Education Committee. If you contact her office, I'm sure she will let

you know when that hearing is scheduled.

Kay Lambert

Advocacy, Inc.

Proposed Legislation for Discipline of Students w/ Disabilities, Including Use

of Law Enforcement

The following are brief summaries of some of the bills currently filed in the

Texas Legislature that would impact, either positively or negatively, the

discipline and punishment of

students with disabilities in public schools. The descriptions below are not

inclusive of all the

provisions of each bill. Before taking a position on a bill, you should first

read the entire bill for yourself.

Bills can be accessed online at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us.

Bills can move quickly. If there is a bill you wish to support or oppose, you

should do so soon. All of the bills below, except HB 1688*, have been referred

to the House Public

Education Committee (roster attached). The House Public Education committee has

begun

hearing bills. You should make your contacts soon.

Some of the bills have identical bills, called “companion bills,” in the Senate.

The bill numbers of any companion bills are included below. The Senate bills

will be heard in the Senate

Education Committee (roster attached). Any contact with the members of that

committee should also be done soon.

If there are any bills you are particularly interested in supporting, you can

contact the office of the sponsoring legislator and let him/her know you would

like to testify on the bill when

it is scheduled for a public hearing or, in some other way, support the bill.

If there is a

bill you oppose, it is always recommended to let the bill’s sponsor know of your

objections before contacting others in opposition.

Contact information is also included for those legislators whose names appear on

the following summaries, but who are on neither the House nor Senate Education

Committees.

HB 316 (Grusendorf) – allows referral of a student to juvenile court, or for the

filing of a complaint in county or municipal court against the parent, if their

child has 1 unexcused absence from school. (Note: Current law is 10 unexcused

absences.)

HB 442 (Dutton) – prohibits schools from including in their Student Codes of

Conduct prohibitions against offenses that are not violations of state or

federal law.

HB 461 (Dutton) – prohibits schools from referring a student to law enforcement

for behavior that violates the Student Code of Conduct, but that the

administrator “knows or has reason

to know” is not a criminal offense.

HB 527 (Bohac) – increases punishment for assault to include certain employees

of primary and secondary public schools. Special education students are

exempted from the

increased punishment.

HB 603 (Eissler) –adds to criteria for expulsions of students who bring weapons

on school property that the student must have done so “knowingly,”

“intentionally” or “recklessly.”

HB 620 (Olivo) & SB 975 (West) – increase accountability for students in DAEPS

by assigning their test (TAKS) scores back to their regularly assigned

campuses.

HB 621 (Olivo) & SB 974 (West) - require school resource officers, and other

school district security personnel or peace officers to receive training in

behavior management techniques

similar to that required of other employees of school districts.

HB 622 (Olivo) & SB 975 (West) – provide for the continuation of current law,

set to expire this year, that requires a school district to invite a

representative of the JJAEP to an ARD

meeting at which placement of a student w/ a disability into the JJAEP is being

considered. Also continues to allow for the JJAEP to provide written notice to

a school district if the administrator of the JJAEP believes a student’s

educational or behavioral needs

cannot be met at the JJAEP.

HB 623 (Olivo) & SB 973 (West) – require immediate notice to the parent when

their child is removed from class for a disciplinary infraction to a placement

in a DAEP, JJAEP, or

expelled.

HB 624 (Olivo) & SB 126 () – prohibit punishment of a student for conduct

for which the student was unable to understand that what he did was wrong or to

conform his behavior

to the applicable law. In order to punish the student for an offense under the

Penal Code, the

school official would have to “reasonably believe that the student had the

culpable mental state required for that offense under the Penal Code.”

HB 625 (Olivo) & SB 970 (West) – allow school districts to be more lenient in

disciplining students who unknowingly bring a weapon or other prohibited item to

school and turn the item over to a school official.

*HB 1688 (Dutton/Olivo) – places limits on offenses that can be considered a

Class C misdemeanor solely because they violate a school district’s Student Code

of Conduct.

(This bill was referred to the House Committee on Law Enforcement.)

HB 1757 (Olivo) – requires an analysis of the academic performance of students

in DAEPS in comparison to students on their sending campuses.

HB 1758 (Olivo) & SB 971 (West) – expands the information districts must submit

to the state re students in DAEPs to include whether the student receives

special education services. Also closes a current loophole that allows for

offenses where action is taken by law

enforcement to go unreported.

HB 2127 (Olivo) & SB 1333 (West) – require school districts to provide

transportation to students placed in DAEPS, and requires DAEPs to provide a full

(7 hour) school day. Either

the district or the juvenile board would be required to provide transportation

to students

in a JJAEP.

HB 2413 () – prohibits schools from using corporal punishment (defined to

include paddling, spanking and hitting) in public schools.

HB 2847 (Olivo) – requires the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards

(TCLOSE) to develop a continuing education training program for school resource

officers, and other

school district peace officers, in certain behavior management and disciplinary

strategies

comparable to the training required of other school district employees.

SB 1356 (West) – requires a school’s Student Code of Conduct to include

information on when a student’s “culpable mental state” should be considered

before the student is suspended, expelled or removed to a DAEP for a violation

of that code.

SB 1359 (West) – increases reporting requirements on the performance of students

in DAEPs.

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

NAME

ROOM #

FAX#

PHONE #

Committee Office

440 SHB

Florence Shapiro, Chair ® Plano

3E.2

Royce West, Vice Chair (D) Dallas

3E.10

Kip Averitt ® Waco

E1.608

Janek ® Houston

3E.16

Steve Ogden ® College Station

GE.4

Todd Staples ® Palestine

E1.808

Van de Putte (D) San

E1.606

Tommy ® Beaumont

GE.7

Judith Zaffirini (D) Laredo

1E.12

Address for all Senate Members: P.O. Box 12068 -

Capitol Station,

Austin, Texas 78711-2068

HOUSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE

NAME

ROOM #

FAX#

PHONE #

Committee Office

E2.124

Kent Grusendorf, Chair ® Arlington

1W.02

Rene Oliveira, V. Chair (D) Brownsville

4N.10

Dan Branch, ® Dallas

E1.424

Dianne White Delisi ® Temple

1N.12

Harold Dutton, Jr. (D) Houston

1W.10

Rob Eissler ® The Woodlands

E1.314

Hochberg (D) Houston

4N.05

*

Bill Keffer ® Dallas

E2.402

*

Mowery ® West Fort Worth

1N.05

Address for all House Members: P.O. Box 2910 -

Austin, Texas 78768-2910

* Uses Committee office fax.

Additional Contact Information for Discipline Bills:

Representative Dora Olivo

Office Address: E2.806

Phone:

Fax:

Representative Alma (D/Houston)

Office Address: E1.216

Phone:

Fax:

House Law Enforcement Committee

Representative Joe Driver (R/Garland), Chair

Representative Jim (R/Carrollton), Vice-Chair

Other members: Glenn Hager (R/Katy), Lon Burnam (D/Ft.Worth), Frost

(D/Atlanta), Suzanna Hupp (R/Lampasas), Marc Veasey (D/Ft.Worth)

Committee Office phone:

Senator Jon (R/Houston)

Office address: E1.704

Phone:

Fax:

Senator Dwayne Bohac (R/Houston)

Office Address: E2.414

Phone:

Fax:

Kay Lambert's testimony:

My name is Kay Lambert. I am representing Advocacy, Inc., a statewide agency

whose mission is to advocate for persons with disabilities. I work on those

issues that impact the 500,000 students in this state who receive special

education services. I am here today to support SB 126 and commend Senator

for attempting to do something about the

egregious practice of attributing criminal behavior to students with significant

disabilities by compelling consideration be given to a student’s “culpable

mental state.”

Despite what you may be told by others, this legislation is not an attempt to

“legislate by anecdote.” The problem of calling the police, handcuffing, filing

criminal charges,

ticketing, and suspending students with disabilities is widespread. They are

also grossly overrepresented in DAEPS, typically for “discretionary offenses”

and over-enthusiastic interpretations of what constitutes a “terroristic

threat.” It is happening to students with disabilities such as autism,

Asperger’s syndrome, mental retardation, Tourette’s Syndrome, and various types

of mental illness. Our information comes from our direct contact with

families statewide. In addition to the information we get from our offices

around the state, and our 1-800 numbers, we recently received over 100 responses

to a survey on our website

asking families if the school had contacted law enforcement about the behavior

of their child

with a disability.

Their stories speak for themselves. The following are a sample of those that

have come to us:

An advocacy group for children with Tourette’s Syndrome had to hire a lawyer

because of the local school district’s zero tolerance policy required them to

call the police every time a student made a “threatening statement,” even when

the utterance was caused by the Tourette’s.

An 11 year old with a learning disability so significant that he was unable to

read, as well as ADHD, became frustrated in class, crawled under a table and

wouldn’t come out. A police

officer that was in the building tried to coax him out from under the table. He

refused to come, but did take off his watch and throw it. The police officer

then gave him a ticket for “disrupting class.” The student was fined $500.

When the parents couldn’t pay it, the student was

told he would have to pay it when he was 17.

A high school girl who has mental retardation and uses a wheelchair had assault

charges filed on her by her teacher when she resisted the teacher’s attempt to

restrain her in her

wheelchair. Though she had severe mental retardation and had previously been in

a Life Skills

classroom, she had been moved to a separate “behavior unit” after a single

incident of what the school considered inappropriate behavior.

A child with a bipolar disorder was given “30 minutes to stop hallucinating.”

When he didn’t “obey,” the school called the local sheriff.

A student with autism was sent to P.E. without his aide in violation of his

IEP. Another student began to taunt and tease him. The student with autism hit

him. The student who was hit was not injured. The school called the police.

The parent was forced to hire an attorney. The student was required to perform

“community service” before returning to school. The student didn’t understand

why he couldn’t go to school.

A 7-year old with autism was repeatedly running out of her classroom. She never

left school property. There was no behavior plan to address the problem and the

parent had not been told she was running out the classroom door. The school

decided to call the police to come to

school and put her in the back of the police car to scare her. The child was

traumatized and her parent understandably furious.

An 11-year old non-verbal student with Down syndrome was frequently restrained

and handcuffed by a school district police officer for behaviors such as

spitting and trying to run

away. He tried to run away from class because he was frequently restrained by

school staff

(as many as 4 at a time) that had never developed any type of behavior plan for

him and who had never received the state required training on appropriate

techniques for discipline and

behavior management. When the parent began to object to the frequent restraints

and use of the police, the child’s teacher filed assault charges on the student.

He has no idea why he doesn’t go to school anymore and why a teacher has to come

to his house.

A student with a mental illness said to a group of classmates that “a gas weapon

will go off in space and kill all life on Planet Earth.” He was charged with a

“terroristic threat.”

He now has a probation officer.

The above is just the tip of a very large iceberg. I implore you to be leaders

in restoring common sense and good judgement in our public schools. The

information and expertise to help students with disabilities behave

appropriately is available to anyone who wants to

access it. When a student can’t read or do math, schools are required to use

the resources available to them to teach and remediate. When a student,

because of a disability, can’t

behave as the school wants him to, why is the response the same – to teach and

remediate, rather than punish?

Students with disabilities and their families are counting on your assistance

and leadership on this serious issue.

Kay Lambert

Advocacy, Inc.

Austin, TX

klambert@...

M. Guppy

www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

Regional Coordinator for the TEAM Project: www.PartnersTX.org