Many teachers and parents in WCCUSD do not know the following.
Please pass this on to any teachers and parents you know.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS IN WCCUSD
What teachers *do* know, intimately, is that children who are
discipline problems "steal" education time from all the other
students, and thus degrades the quality of education in public
schools. What many teachers (and parents) in this district *don't*
know is that teachers have rights established by the California
Education Code to combat the problem -- but they need to exercise
these rights in order to make them work. Parents need to help
teachers by demanding that their school principals support the
teachers as they exercise these rights to secure a better education
system.
Here's what teachers have the right to do about discipline:
If a student disrupts a class or willfully defies the authority of a
teacher, the teacher has the right to suspend the child from the
classroom, and the teacher does not have to accept the child back
into the classroom for the rest of the day (if in elementary
school). The law says the child cannot be returned that day without
the concurrence of the principal AND the teacher (this decision is
not by the principal's whim alone).
The principal (or principal's designee) is then reponsible for
dealing with the problem -- and if the child must remain at the
school site, the child is to have "appropriate" supervision. The
school secretaries are not appropriate supervision. "Appropriate"
supervision would be with someone who has had certified training
dealing with children who are discipline problems.
It is illegal to send the disruptive child to another teacher's
classroom. That is a direct violation of CA Ed Code 48910.(b), but
unfortunately it is a widely-used practice in this district because
our elementary schools have been allowed to be derelict in their
duty to provide an appropriate location and supervisor for children
suspended from classrooms during the day, and a person to manage the
paperwork and communication of parents who need to attend
conferences, or attend a portion of a schoolday in the classroom of
his or her child.
Please, do your part to make WCCUSD be accountable for following the
California Education Codes.
Thank you.
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RELEVENT EXCERPTS FROM CA EDUCATION CODES
----------------------
48900.
A pupil may not be suspended from school or recommended for
expulsion, unless the superintendent or the principal of the
school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has
committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions...:
(k) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied
the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators,
school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the
performance of their duties.
(r) A pupil may not be suspended or expelled for any of the
acts enumerated in this section, unless that act is related to
school activity or school attendance ... including, but not
limited to, any of the following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school
sponsored activity.
(u) A superintendent or principal may use his or her
discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion,
including, but not limited to, counseling and an anger management
program, for a pupil subject to discipline under this section.
----------------------
48900.1.
(a) The governing board of each school district may adopt
a policy authorizing teachers to require the parent or guardian
of a pupil who has been suspended by a teacher pursuant to
Section 48910 for reasons specified in subdivision (i) or (k) of
Section 48900, to attend a portion of a schoolday in the
classroom of his or her child or ward....
----------------------
48910.
(a) A teacher may suspend any pupil from class, for any of
the acts enumerated in Section 48900, for the day of the
suspension and the day following. The teacher shall immediately
report the suspension to the principal of the school and send the
pupil to the principal or the designee of the principal for
appropriate action. If that action requires the continued
presence of the pupil at the schoolsite, the pupil shall be under
appropriate supervision, as defined in policies and related
regulations adopted by the governing board of the school
district....The pupil shall not be returned
to the class from which he or she was suspended, during the
period of the suspension, without the concurrence of the teacher
of the class and the principal.
(b) A pupil suspended from a class shall not be placed in
another regular class during the period of suspension. However,
if the pupil is assigned to more than one class per day this
subdivision shall apply only to other regular classes scheduled
at the same time as the class from which the pupil was suspended.
(c) A teacher may also refer a pupil, for any of the acts
enumerated in Section 48900, to the principal or the designee of
the principal for consideration of a suspension from the school.
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