School employees: protection.

Existing law provides that any parent, guardian, or other person whose conduct in a place where a school employee is required to be in the course of the employee's duties materially disrupts classwork or extracurricular activities or involves substantial disorder is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $500, nor more than $1,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both imprisonment and the fine. Existing law provides for certain minimum periods of imprisonment in a county jail for 2nd and subsequent convictions for the above-described offenses, and prohibits release on any basis until those minimum periods are served, as specified. This bill would apply these misdemeanors to any adult instead of a parent, guardian, or other person and would eliminate the prohibition on release prior to the minimum period of incarceration applicable to a 2nd conviction, as provided. This bill would specify, for purposes of the above-described offense, that "substantial disorder" includes substantial disorder at any meeting of the governing board of a school district, the governing body of a charter school, a county board of education, or the State Board of Education. To the extent the bill expands the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that any adult who subjects a school employee, as defined, to harassment or makes a credible threat against the employee or the employee's family, while the employee is away from a schoolsite or after school hours, for reasons related to the employee's course of duties is guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would define harassment and credible threat for these purposes. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the misdemeanors discussed above do not apply to the conduct of a pupil who is an individual with exceptional needs if it is determined that the pupil's conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the pupil's disability. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.