State Bill Looking To Limit School Discipline
A new bill in this state takes aim at current legislation regarding student discipline in an effort to change the climate surrounding public schools.
Violence is a growing problem in schools throughout the nation. To combat this, districts and states have worked vigorously over the last decade to implement new protocols for how escalating situations inside classrooms are addressed. But the caveat to increased safety measures has also been met with pushback. Now, Colorado is one state looking to drawback on practices and procedures aimed at student discipline.
Chalkbeat recently reported that a bill expected to be introduced in the Colorado House this week looks to reign in student discipline protocols. With more training for police that work in schools, more transparency and data collection on incidents, and new limits on the use of handcuffs and seclusion rooms, proponents of the proposal hope the efforts will aid schools transitioning to safer and more supportive places, and boost reform for those students who are repeat-offenders.
Under current Colorado laws regarding student discipline, many loopholes allow some school districts to enact their own policies regarding seclusion and restraint. In 2017, a similar law was passed that required school districts to conduct annual reviews of their use of seclusion rooms. Seclusion rooms are generally used in most schools as a last means of effort to reign in misbehaved children. The use of these rooms is often under fierce criticism, as reports from schools across the country show jail-like rooms these students are often locked inside. Similarly, the 2017 law also required Colorado schools to review the use of physical restraint, which was defined as putting a student in a physical hold for more than five minutes.
The caveat to these current Colorado student discipline laws is that the schools are not required to post and share their findings with the Department of Education. The new proposal looks to change that. It would require the Colorado education department to collect data regarding student discipline, along with law enforcement referrals. Furthermore, the bill would require the data to be broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, family income, English learner status, and disability status.
Other than looking to ramp up data regarding student discipline, the new measures would also limit the use of physical restraints and seclusion rooms. It would require schools to document any restraint use over a minute long, while also prohibiting offices and custodian closets for use of student seclusion. Similarly, it would also ban the use of handcuffs except in certain cases.
The new proposal would also set new standards for school resource officers. It would require all new applicants for such positions to have previous experience working with youth. It also looks to give school leaders, not just police, more say when evaluating officers’ performance. Last year, a similar bill was shot down after opposition from law enforcement. That bill looked to limit how police officers could respond to school violence threats. To address those concerns, the new bill calls for a revamped model policy.
At the heart of Colorado’s new student discipline proposal, proponents hope the measures will improve the overall school climate in Colorado and eventually turn the clock on the number of violent acts inside schools. Krista Spurgin the executive director of the Colorado chapter of Stand for Children ultimately said, “We want to set kids up for success. If kids are constantly getting in trouble or being told they’re a troublemaker or even getting arrested, you start to see that cycle repeat itself.” But since the bill hasn’t even officially been presented yet, it has a long road ahead before possibly becoming law.
