Continuation schools: policies and procedures: voluntary placement.

Existing law establishes continuation schools to provide opportunities for pupils to complete the required academic courses of instruction to graduate from high school, to provide a program of instruction that emphasizes occupational orientation or a work-study schedule and offers intensive guidance services to meet the special needs of pupils, and to provide a program designed to meet the educational needs of each pupil, as specified. Existing law requires the governing board of each high school or unified school district that assigns pupils to continuation schools to adopt rules and regulations governing procedures for the involuntary transfer of pupils to continuation schools. This bill would, if the governing board of a school district chooses to voluntarily enroll high school pupils in a continuation school, require the governing board to establish and adopt policies and procedures governing the identification, placement, and intake procedures for these pupils, based on a finding that the voluntary placement of the pupil will promote his or her educational interests. The bill would require the adopted policies and procedures to ensure, among other things, that voluntary placement in continuation school not be used as an alternative to expulsion, except as specified, that no specific group of pupils, as specified, is disproportionately enrolled in continuation schools within the school district, that the policies and procedures be provided to pupils, and to the parents and legal guardians of pupils, whose voluntary transfer to a continuation school is under consideration, and that before a pupil is transferred, the pupil and his or her parent or legal guardian may meet with a counselor, principal, or administrator from both the transferor school and the continuation school to determine if transferring is the best option for the pupil.