Pupil rights: suspension or expulsion: alternatives and other means of correction.

Existing law provides that a pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act. Existing law also authorizes a superintendent of the school district or principal to 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 provision. This bill would instead authorize a superintendent of the school district or principal of the school to use alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil's specific misbehavior, as specified. Existing law requires the imposition of suspension only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct but authorizes the suspension of a pupil, including an individual with exceptional needs, upon a first offense if the principal or superintendent of schools determines that specified offenses were committed or that the pupil's presence causes a danger to persons or property or threatens to disrupt the instructional process. This bill would authorize a school district to document the other means of correction used and place that documentation in the pupil's record. The bill would also specify that other means of correction include, but are not limited to, among other things, a positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions that occur during the schoolday on campus, a conference between school personnel, the pupil's parent or guardian, and the pupil, participation in a restorative justice program, and after-school programs that address specific behavioral issues or expose pupils to positive activities and behaviors. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 48900 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2242 that would become operative if this bill and AB 2242 are enacted, and this bill is enacted last. This bill would also incorporate changes to that section proposed by AB 1732, relating to bullying of pupils, which has been chaptered.