Teacher removal of students from class
Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code gives teachers the means to protect a disciplined environment. Teachers can remove from class students who continuously or seriously disrupt learning. A principal can assign the student to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP), suspend the student or put the student in another teacher’s class. A teacher can refuse a student’s return to class, subject only to the right of the campus placement review committee to place the student back in the class as the best or only alternative placement. Legislation initiated by TCTA and signed into law in 2005 ensures that a student may not be returned to the class of a teacher without the teacher’s consent, if the student had been removed by the teacher for assault causing bodily injury to the teacher. The teacher may not be coerced to consent, and the decision may not be overturned by a disciplinary review committee as with other removals.
Expulsion for serious criminal conduct
Chapter 37 specifies when districts are required or allowed to expel students who engage in very serious crimes, such as aggravated assault or sexual assault or drug and alcohol offenses.
Expulsion and continued education
In counties of more than 125,000 people, districts must educate expelled students in a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP). Education of expelled students under age 10 must occur in a DAEP. If a student transfers, the new district may continue the expulsion. A district can expel a student who, after placement in a DAEP, continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior.
Disciplinary alternative education programs
The law identifies crimes for which teachers are required to remove students from a class, and teachers can expect districts to enforce the mandatory placement provisions. Sec. 37.006 of the Texas Education Code identifies a number of crimes that require districts to place students in a DAEP, including assaults of teachers and threats made against teachers. In some cases, a crime committed wholly apart from school, for example the offense of retaliation against a teacher, requires the district to place the student in a DAEP. Districts cannot assign students under age 6 to a DAEP, unless they bring a firearm to school. Schools cannot place elementary students with nonelementary students in a DAEP. The code is available online and can be accessed from the TCTA website at tcta.org.
Evaluation of DAEPs
Commissioner rules require the annual evaluation of each district’s DAEP using criteria including TAKS scores and rates of course completion, dropouts and attendance. New law also requires that districts assess basic math and reading skills of students placed in a DAEP for 90 or more days, once at the initial placement of the student and again on or near the date of departure. Students and their teachers have the right to expect districts to treat DAEP programs as serious educational placements, and to commit the resources to make them work.
Student Code of Conduct
School districts and open-enrollment charter schools must develop a Student Code of Conduct (SCC) in conjunction with district-level and site-based decision making committees. The SCC operates in conjunction with the discretionary and mandatory sanctions outlined in Chapter 37. Teachers can expect administrators and the board to enforce the SCC. Legislation passed in 2005 requires a district code of conduct to specify whether consideration is given to intent, the student’s disciplinary history, or disability that may impair the student’s ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of an act as a factor in determining whether to remove, suspend or expel a student.
Placement of registered sex offender
Pursuant to TCTA-initiated legislation in 2007, a student who is a registered sex offender is required to be placed in a DAEP or JJAEP for at least one semester. The placement of the student is reviewed after one semester and annually thereafter by a committee that includes a teacher from the school the student would be attending, the student’s parole/probation officer (if there is 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 the best interests of the students. 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 of any kind, 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 the best interests of the students.
Notification to educators
You have the right to be notified about students under your supervision who have certain types of disciplinary or criminal history. For more information about this topic, please refer to the article on pages 44-45.
Overview of disciplinary rights and responsibilities
The student discipline chart summarizes disciplinary rights and responsibilities.
TCTA offers several online continuing professional education seminars relating to student discipline and violence. Members can earn 1.5 CPE credit hours by taking “When is student behavior a crime?,” 1.5 CPE credit hours by taking “Transitions: Into and out of a disciplinary AEP,” 1 CPE hour by taking “An alternative view of responding to school violence,” 1.25 CPE hours by taking “School safety,” 1.25 CPE hours by taking “Positive behavior supports,” 1.25 CPE hours by taking “How to avoid power struggles: Dealing with angry and difficult students,” and 1.25 CPE hours by taking “Discipline options.” All are available at tcta.org/seminars.
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