Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 160-4-8-.15 - Student Discipline
(1)
DEFINITIONS.
(a)
Behavior Support Process - a
student support process for identifying and addressing the behavioral needs
through providing integrated resources that promote behavioral
change.
(b)
Disciplinary
Order - any public or private school or school system order that imposes
short-term suspension, long-term suspension, or expulsion upon a student in
such school or system.
(c)
Discipline Policies - outlines consequences and punishments that
will occur in the response to specify unacceptable behaviors.
(d)
Multi-tiered system of supports or
MTSS- a systemic, continuous-improvement framework in which data based
problem-solving and decision making is practiced across all levels of the
educational system for supporting students at multiple levels of
intervention.
(e)
Public
preschool through third grade- a public preschool, a Pre-K program in a
public school administered pursuant to Code Section
20-1A-4, and kindergarten through
third grade in a public school.
(f)
Progressive Discipline - the levels of consequences assigned to
students who violate codes of conduct based on severity of misbehavior,
students discipline history, and other relevant factors.
(g)
Response to intervention or
RTI- a framework of identifying and addressing the academic and
behavioral needs of students through a tiered system.
(h)
Tribunal Training Course - a
course of at least five (5) hours duration which
1. includes instruction on:
(i) all student disciplinary provisions in
Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
(ii) due process requirements under federal
and state law,
(iii) applicable
rules of evidence,
(iv) leading
federal and state judicial and administrative decisions, and
(v) applicable ethical standards and the role
of the hearing officer and panel member as an independent, neutral arbiter;
and
2. follows a training
course outline that is annually approved by the Local Board of
Education.
(i)
Tribunal Training Provider - one who has expertise and/or
knowledge of:
1. all student disciplinary
provisions in Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
2. due process requirements under federal and
state law,
3. applicable rules of
evidence,
4. leading federal and
state judicial and administrative decisions, and
5. applicable ethical standards and the role
of the hearing officer and panel member as an independent, neutral
arbiter.
(j)
Qualified Student Discipline Hearing Officer or Disciplinary Tribunal or
Panel Member - an individual selected by the local school system who is:
1. in good standing with the State Bar of
Georgia, or
2. has experience as a
teacher, counselor, or administrator in a public school system, or
3. is actively serving as a hearing officer
under an existing contract/agreement with a Georgia school system provided that
such individual completes the tribunal training course within 6 months of July
1, 2016.
(k)
Weapon - includes dangerous weapons, firearms, and hazardous
objects as defined in Code Section
20-2-751.
(2)
REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Each local board of education shall adopt
policies designed to improve the student learning environment by improving
student behavior and discipline. These policies shall provide for the
development of age appropriate student codes of conduct that contain the
following, at a minimum:
1. Standards for
student behavior during school hours, at school-related functions, on school
buses, and at school bus stops designed to create the expectation that students
will behave themselves in such a way so as to facilitate a learning environment
for themselves and other students, respect each other and school district
employees, obey student behavior policies adopted by the local board of
education, and obey student behavior rules established by individual
schools;
2. Verbal assault,
including threatening violence, of teachers, administrators, and other school
personnel;
3. Physical assault or
battery of teachers, administrators or other school personnel;
4. Disrespectful conduct toward teachers,
administrators, other school personnel, persons attending school related
functions or other students, including use of vulgar or profane language;
5. Verbal assault of other
students, including threatening violence or sexual harassment as defined
pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972;
6. Sexual harassment as defined pursuant to
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 or physical assault or battery of
other students.
7. Guidelines and
consequences resulting from failure to comply with compulsory attendance as
required under O.C.G.A §
20-2-690.1;
8. Willful or malicious damage to real or
personal property of the school or to personal property of any person
legitimately at the school;
9.
Inciting, advising, or counseling of others to engage in prohibited
acts;
10. Marking, defacing or
destroying school property or the property of another student;
11. Possession of a weapon, as provided for
in O.C.G.A. §
16-11-127.1;
12. Unlawful use or possession of illegal
drugs or alcohol;
13. Willful and
persistent violation of student codes of conduct;
14. Bullying as defined in O.C.G.A. §
20-2-751.4;
15. Any off-campus behavior of a student
which could result in the student being criminally charged with a felony and
which makes the student's continued presence at school a potential danger to
persons or property at the school or which disrupts the educational
process;
16. Each local board of
education shall adopt policies, applicable to students in grades 6 through 12
that prohibit bullying of a student by another student and shall require such
prohibition to be included in the student code of conduct in that school
system. Local board policies shall require that, upon a finding that a student
in grades 6 through 12 has committed the offense of bullying for the third time
in a school year, such student shall be assigned to an alternative
school.
17. Behavior support
processes designed to consider, as appropriate in light of the severity of the
behavioral problem, support services that may be available through the school,
school system, other public entities, or community organizations that may help
the student address behavioral problems; This rule neither mandates nor
prohibits the use of student support teams as part of the student support
process;
18. Progressive discipline
processes designed to create the expectation that the degree of discipline will
be in proportion to the severity of the behavior, that the previous discipline
history of the student and other relevant factors will be taken into account;
and that all due process procedures required by federal and state law will be
followed;
19. Parental involvement
processes designed to create the expectation that parents, guardians, teachers
and school administrators will work together to improve and enhance student
behavior and academic performance and will communicate freely their concerns
about, and actions in response to, student behavior that detracts from the
learning environment. Local boards of education shall provide opportunities for
parental involvement in developing and updating student codes of
conduct.
20. A statement that major
offenses including, but not limited to, drug and weapon offenses can lead to
schools being named as an Unsafe School according to the provisions of State
Board of Education Rule
160-4-8-.16 Unsafe School Choice
Option.
(b) Local boards
of education shall provide for the distribution of student codes of conduct to
each student upon enrollment and to the parents and guardians of each student
and may solicit the signatures of students and parents or guardians in
acknowledgment of the receipt of such student codes of conduct.
(c) Student codes of conduct shall be
available in each school and classroom.
(d) Local boards of education shall provide
for disciplinary actions against students who violate student codes of conduct;
(e) Local board policies relating
to student codes of conduct shall provide that each local superintendent shall
fully support the authority of principals and teachers in the school system to
remove a student from the classroom pursuant to O.C.G.A. §
20-2-738, including establishing
and disseminating procedures.
(f)
It is the preferred policy of the board that disruptive students are placed in
alternative education settings in lieu of being suspended or
expelled.
(g) Local board policies
shall require the filing of a report by a teacher documenting a student's
violation of the student code of conduct which repeatedly or substantially
interferes with the teacher's ability to communicate effectively with the
students in his or her class or with the ability of such student's classmates
to learn within one school day of the most recent occurrence of such behavior.
The report shall be filed with the principal or principal's designee, shall not
exceed one page, and shall describe the behavior. The principal or principal's
designee shall, within one day of receiving such report, send to the student's
parents or guardians a copy of the report, and information regarding how the
principal or principal's designee may be contacted.
(h) The principal or the principal's designee
shall send written notification to the teacher and to the student's parents or
guardians of the student support services being utilized or the disciplinary
action taken within one school day and shall make a reasonable attempt to
confirm receipt of such written notification by the student's parents or
guardians. Written notification shall include information regarding how
student's parents or guardians may contact the principal or principal's
designee.
(i) Each local board of
education shall approve Tribunal Training Provider(s).
(j) Each local board of education shall make
available to all Qualified Student Discipline Hearing Officers and Disciplinary
Tribunal or Panel Members the initial and on goingtribunal training course
prior to the individual(s) serving in such capacity. The local board of
education shall ensure initially trained student discipline hearing officers
and disciplinary tribunal or panel members undergo continuing education so as
to continue to serve in such capacity.
(k) Each local board of education shall
observe Georgia law in developing and implementing disciplinary hearings held
by a disciplinary hearing officer, disciplinary panel, or disciplinary tribunal
pursuant to O.C.G.A. §
20-2-751 through §
20-2-759 including the ability to honor disciplinary
orders of private schools and other public schools/school systems pursuant to
O.C.G.A. §
20-2-751.2.
1. Disciplinary hearings shall be held no
later than ten school days after the beginning of the student's suspension
unless the school system and parents or guardians mutually agree to an
extension.
2. Any teacher who is
called as a witness by the school system shall be given notice no later than
three days prior to the hearing.
(l) No student in public preschool through
third grade shall be expelled or suspended from school for more than five
consecutive or cumulative days during a school year without first receiving a
multi-tiered system of supports, such as response to intervention, unless such
student possessed a weapon, illegal drugs, or other dangerous instrument or
such student's behavior endangers the physical safety of other students or
school personnel pursuant to O.C.G.A.
20-2-742.
Notes
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