Pupil records: suspensions: community service: disclosure.

Existing law authorizes a superintendent or principal of a school to suspend or recommend for expulsion a pupil who commits one or more enumerated acts. Existing law authorizes the principal of a school, the principal's designee, the superintendent of schools, or the governing board of a school district to require a pupil to perform community service, as defined, during the pupil's nonschool hours as part of or instead of disciplinary action, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires that, for purposes of notification to parents and the reporting of expulsion or suspension offenses to the State Department of Education, a school district specifically identify, by offense committed, in all appropriate official records of a pupil, each suspension or expulsion of that pupil for the commission of specified offenses. This bill would prohibit a school, at the request of a pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian, from disclosing to a postsecondary educational institution the pupil's disciplinary records relating to a suspension or suspensions, if each suspension was for a minor offense and the pupil completed 5 hours of community service for each suspension, as specified. The bill would require a school district to adopt a policy regarding which behaviors are minor offenses for purposes of these provisions, and would also require that the pupil and the pupil's parent or guardian be informed of the option to perform community service. By imposing these additional duties on schools and school districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.