FAQs: Dealing with a difficult parent

school suspension unless the student engages in certain serious behaviors listed in the Education Code. School districts and charter schools, in consultation with the CBC, may develop and implement a program that provides a disciplinary alternative for students under grade 3 whose behavior makes them eligible for out-of-school suspension according to the student code of conduct. The program must: • be age-appropriate and research-based; • provide models for positive behavior; • promote a positive school environment; • provide an alternative disciplinary course of action that does not rely on the use of in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, or placement in a DAEP to manage student behavior; and • provide behavior management strategies including positive behavior intervention/support, trauma-informed practices, social and emotional learning, any necessary referrals for services, and restorative practices. The law prohibits a district or charter school from placing a homeless student in out-of-school suspension except in the case of conduct including weapons, violence or drugs/alcohol on school property or during a school-related activity. The campus behavior coordinator can coordinate with the district’s homeless education liaison to identify appropriate alternatives.

Placement of registered sex offender

Pursuant to TCTA-initiated legislation, a student who is a registered sex offender must be placed in a DAEP or JJAEP for at least one semester. The placement is reviewed after one semester and annually thereafter by a committee that includes a teacher from the school the student would attend, the student’s parole/probation officer (if none, then a representative of a local juvenile probation department), an instructor from the AEP, a school district designee and a school counselor. If a student transfers to a different district during the required alternative placement period, the new district may require the student to complete an additional semester without reviewing the placement or may consider the time previously spent in a DAEP. The student’s placement in the AEP continues until it is determined that placement in the regular classroom is not a threat to students or teachers, will not disrupt the educational process, and is not contrary to students’ best interests. Placement of a student receiving special education services must be reviewed by the ARD committee, which may request that the district convene a placement committee as described above to assist the ARD committee. If the student is not under court supervision, the district may place the student in a regular classroom, unless it is determined that such a placement is a threat to students or the teacher, will disrupt the educational process, or is otherwise not in students’ best interests.

School marshals

authority given to peace officers, including making arrests, subject to regulations adopted by the school board or charter school governing authority. They may act only as necessary to prevent or abate an offense that threatens serious bodily injury or death to persons on school premises. Marshals must be appointed by a school district’s board of trustees or the governing body of an open-enrollment charter school, but there is no limit on the number of school marshals per campus. The marshal may carry a handgun on school premises under certain regulations. According to new legislation passed in 2021, a school marshal may carry a concealed handgun on his/her person, subject to written regulations of the district or charter, or keep it in a locked and secured location. A school marshal may use a handgun they are authorized to carry or possess only under circumstances that would justify the use of deadly force. The Commission on Law Enforcement operates a training program available to any school employee with a license to carry a handgun and administers a psychological exam to determine fitness to carry out the duties of a school marshal. New legislation passed in 2021 provides that districts and charter schools are immune from liability for damages resulting from a reasonable action taken by security personnel to maintain safety at a campus, including action relating to possession or use of a firearm, or by an employee with written permission by the district/charter to carry a firearm. Under the terms of this legislation, “security personnel” includes a school district peace officer, school marshal, school resource officer or a retired peace officer who has been hired by a district, charter school, or private school to provide security services, or who volunteers to provide security services.

Citations and graduated sanctions

A school district peace officer, law enforcement officer or school resource officer may not issue a citation to a child who is alleged to have committed a school offense (an offense committed by a child enrolled in a public school on property under the control and jurisdiction of a school district) that is a class C misdemeanor, other than a traffic offense. However, the school may file a complaint against the child with a criminal court if it has developed a system of graduated sanctions that the child has failed to comply with or complete, or if the school district has not elected to adopt a system of graduated sanctions.

Notification to educators

Educators have the right to be notified about students under their supervision who have certain types of disciplinary or criminal history (see page 49).

Right to report a crime

TCTA-initiated legislation clarifies that school district or openenrollment charter school employees may report any crime they witnessed at school to any officer with the authority to investigate it. Districts and charters cannot adopt a policy restricting this right or requiring employees to report only to certain people or officers.

STUDENT DISCIPLINE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Removal by teacher

Suspension

Removal to DAEP

Expulsion or removal to DAEP or JJAEP

• A teacher may send a student to the campus behavior coordinator to maintain effective classroom discipline. • A teacher may remove a student from class after documenting repeated interference with the teacher’s ability to communicate with the class OR if the student engages in behavior so unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it seriously interferes with instruction.  Following removal, the principal may place the student in a disciplinary alternative education program, in-school suspension, or another teacher’s class. • A teacher must remove from class and send to the principal any student who engages in conduct for which the student must be placed in a DAEP or for which the student may or must be expelled. • A conference must be held within three class days of the removal, during which time the student may not be returned to the regular classroom. • A removed student cannot be returned to the teacher’s classroom over the teacher’s objection unless the placement review committee finds that the placement is the best or the only alternative. If the teacher removed the student from class because the student engaged in an offense of assault causing bodily injury against the teacher, the student may not be returned to the teacher’s class without the teacher’s consent. The teacher may not be coerced to consent.

• Grounds for suspension may be developed by the district and must be defined in the district’s student code of conduct. • A student may be suspended for up to three days at a time. • A student in a grade below 3 cannot be placed in out-of-school suspension except for certain serious offenses involving a weapon, violence, or drugs/alcohol.

• A school district must place in a DAEP, subject to consideration of mitigating factors, any student who, while on or within 300 feet of school property or while attending a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school property, engages in the following:  Conduct punishable as a felony;  Conduct containing the elements of the offense of assault causing bodily injury;  Conduct containing certain elements of the offense of harassment;  Selling, giving, delivering to another person or possessing, using or being under the influence of marijuana, a controlled substance, a dangerous drug or an alcoholic beverage;  Commission of a serious act or offense while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage;  Conduct containing the elements of an offense relating to an abusable volatile chemical; or  Conduct containing the elements of public lewdness or indecent exposure. • A student, whether or not on school property or at a school event, must be placed in a DAEP for engaging in conduct that:  Constitutes retaliation, i.e., harming or threatening to harm by an unlawful act a school employee on account of the employee’s job-related duties; or  Involves a public school and contains the elements of the offense of false alarm, report or terroristic threat. • A student must be placed in a DAEP if, while off campus and not in attendance at a school-sponsored or school-related activity, the student receives deferred prosecution for the felony offense of aggravated robbery or offenses listed in Title 5 of the Texas

Penal Code, i.e., violent offenses against the person; a court or jury finds that the student has engaged in delinquent conduct including the felony offense of aggravated robbery or conduct defined as a Title 5 felony offense; or the superintendent or designee has a reasonable belief that the student engaged in the felony offense of aggravated robbery or conduct defined as a

Title 5 felony offense. • A student may be placed in a DAEP if the superintendent or designee has a reasonable belief that the student, while off campus and not in attendance at a school-sponsored or school-related activity, has engaged in conduct defined as a felony offense other than aggravated robbery, or those offenses listed in Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code, and the continued presence of the student in the regular classroom threatens the safety of other students or teachers or will be detrimental to the educational process. • A student who is required to register as a sex offender must be placed in a DAEP or JJAEP for at least one semester. • An elementary school student may not be placed in a DAEP with nonelementary school students. • Students younger than age 6 may not be removed to a DAEP, unless they bring a firearm to school. • When a student is removed to a DAEP, a conference is required within three days of removal. The school board or its designee must review a student’s status, including academic status, at least every 120 days. For high school students, progress toward graduation requirements must be reviewed and a specific plan developed.

• A student may be expelled or placed in a DAEP or JJAEP if the student:  has received deferred prosecution for the felony offense of aggravated robbery or conduct defined as a felony offense in Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code;  has been found by a court or jury to have engaged in the felony offense of aggravated robbery or delinquent conduct or conduct defined as a felony offense in Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code;  is charged with engaging in conduct defined as the felony offense of aggravated robbery or a felony offense in Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code;  has been referred to a juvenile court for allegedly engaging in delinquent conduct or conduct defined as the felony offense of aggravated robbery or a felony offense in Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code;  has received probation or deferred adjudication for the felony offense of aggravated robbery or a felony offense under Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code;  has been convicted of the felony offense of aggravated robbery or a felony offense under Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code; or  has been arrested for or charged with the felony offense of aggravated robbery or a felony offense under Title 5 of the Texas Penal Code. • Before the placement, the board of trustees of a school district or the board’s designee must give an opportunity for a hearing. • In addition, the board or the board’s designee must determine that the student’s presence in the regular classroom threatens the safety of other students or teachers, will be detrimental to the educational process, or is not in the best interests of the district’s students. (NOTE: Certain instances described here require expulsion.)