Bill Text: PA HB869 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for rules and regulations and safety patrols, for possession of weapons prohibited and for suspension and expulsion of pupils.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 20-8)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-03-11 - Referred to EDUCATION [HB869 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HB869-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 982
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 869 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY O'NEILL, CARROLL, CLYMER, CUTLER, EVERETT, FLECK, GOODMAN, GROVE, GRUCELA, HARRIS, HENNESSEY, HESS, KORTZ, LONGIETTI, MILLER, MOUL, MUSTIO, PASHINSKI, REICHLEY, SCAVELLO, SIPTROTH, VULAKOVICH, BOYD, CREIGHTON AND GINGRICH, MARCH 11, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MARCH 11, 2009
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," further providing for rules and
regulations and safety patrols, for possession of weapons
prohibited and for suspension and expulsion of pupils.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 510 of the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30,
No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, amended June
29, 1976 (P.L.450, No.110), is amended to read:
Section 510. Rules and Regulations; Safety Patrols.--(a)
The board of school directors in any school district may adopt
and enforce such reasonable rules and regulations as it may deem
necessary and proper, regarding the management of its school
affairs and the conduct and deportment of all superintendents,
teachers, and other appointees or employes during the time they
are engaged in their duties to the district, as well as
regarding the conduct and deportment of all [pupils] students
attending the public schools in the district, during such time
as they are attending school or school-related activities, are
present on school property or in buses or other vehicles
provided by the district, or otherwise are under the supervision
of the board of school directors and teachers, including the
time necessarily spent in coming to and returning from
school[.], and pertaining to activities of students regardless
of time or place likely to cause or causing substantial
disruption of or material interference with school activities or
the orderly and safe administration of the schools.
(b) In the exercise of this authority the board of school
directors is empowered to organize school safety patrols and,
with the permission of the parents, to appoint [pupils] students
as members thereof, for the purpose of influencing and
encouraging the other [pupils] students to refrain from crossing
public highways at points other than at regular crossings, and
for the purpose of directing [pupils] students not to cross
highways at times when the presence of traffic would render such
crossing unsafe. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to
authorize or permit the use of any safety patrol member for the
purpose of directing vehicular traffic, nor shall any safety
patrol member be stationed in that portion of the highway
intended for the use of vehicular traffic. No liability shall
attach either to the school district, or any individual
director, student, superintendent, teacher, or other school
employe, by virtue of the organization, maintenance, or
operation of a school safety patrol organized, maintained, and
operated under authority of this section.
All flags, belts, apparel and devices issued, supplied or
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furnished to persons acting in the capacity of special school
police, or special police appointed to control and direct
traffic at or near schools, in order to enhance the conspicuity
of such persons, shall be made from retro-reflective and
fluorescent materials visible both day and night at three
hundred (300) feet to approaching motorists using lawful low
beam headlights and shall conform to standards, specifications,
or regulations issued by the State Board of Education. All belts
supplied or furnished to [pupils] students active in the
capacity of school safety patrol members shall be fluorescent.
Section 2. Section 1317.2(e.1) of the act, amended June 25,
1997 (P.L.297, No.30), is amended to read:
Section 1317.2. Possession of Weapons Prohibited.--* * *
[(e.1) A school district receiving a student who transfers
from a public or private school during a period of expulsion for
an act or offense involving a weapon may assign that student to
an alternative assignment or provide alternative education
services, provided that the assignment may not exceed the period
of expulsion.]
* * *
Section 3. Section 1318 of the act, amended February 8, 1980
(P.L.3, No.2), is amended to read:
Section 1318. Suspension and Expulsion of [Pupils.--]
Students.--(a) Every principal or teacher in charge of a public
school may temporarily suspend any [pupil] student on account of
disobedience or misconduct, and any principal or teacher
suspending any [pupil] student shall promptly notify the
district superintendent or secretary of the board of school
directors. The board may, after a proper hearing, suspend such
[child] student for such time as it may determine, or may
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permanently expel [him] the student. Such hearings, suspension,
or expulsion may be delegated to a duly authorized committee of
the board, or to a duly qualified hearing examiner, who need not
be a member of the board, but whose adjudication must be
approved by the board. The board and designated committees or
hearing examiners acting pursuant to this section shall have the
power to administer oaths to witnesses and the power to issue
subpoenas as provided in section 1128.
(b) (1) A public school entity may suspend, expel or deny
admission to a student suspended or expelled from another public
school entity or nonpublic school, until the period of
suspension or expulsion has expired, if such suspension or
expulsion was imposed due to misconduct of a nature that would
subject students in the receiving entity to possible suspension
or expulsion.
(2) Denial of admission to a transferring student based on
suspension or expulsion from or misconduct in a prior school
entity shall be treated as suspension or expulsion for purposes
of this section. A student returning to the program of the
school district of residence after withdrawing from or being
expelled or suspended from an area vocational-technical school
is a transferring student for purposes of this section.
(3) No hearing otherwise required under subsection (a) shall
be necessary if suspension, expulsion or denial of admission
under subsection (b)(1) is based upon an adjudication issued in
accordance with this section by the board or joint operating
committee of the prior entity of enrollment, as evidenced by a
certified copy of such adjudication.
(4) A school entity may, after hearing in accordance with
subsection (a), suspend, expel or deny admission to a
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transferring student who has committed misconduct while enrolled
in another public or nonpublic school of a nature that would
subject students in the receiving entity to possible suspension
or expulsion, but who withdrew from the prior school entity
before disciplinary proceedings based on the misconduct were
initiated or completed.
(5) A receiving school entity may enroll a student
transferring from another public or nonpublic school entity in
its regular program on a provisional basis pending receipt of a
certified copy of the student's disciplinary record and sworn
statement as required under section 1304-A. If the disciplinary
record or sworn statement reveals a history of misconduct while
enrolled in the prior entity, in addition to other disposition
authorized under this section and to the extent consistent with
the disciplinary standards, policies and procedures of the
receiving entity, the student may be reassigned to an
alternative education program and may be deemed ineligible to
participate in extracurricular activities.
(6) A receiving school entity may, consistent with its
disciplinary standards, policies and procedures, impose other
forms of discipline or disciplinary assignment or impose
conditions of admission or continued enrollment based on a
transferring student's expulsion or suspension from or
misconduct while enrolled in a prior school entity, in lieu of
or in combination with denial of admission, suspension or
expulsion.
(c) The board of school directors may, in connection with
any expulsion, suspension, denial of admission or disciplinary
reassignment of a student, impose conditions for admission or
readmission to or continuation in the school entity's regular or
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alternative education programs. Violation of or failure to meet
such conditions may become the basis for denial of admission,
readmission or subsequent disciplinary action, including
exclusion from or reassignment within the school entity's
regular or alternative education programs. The board may
designate a person or persons to determine whether such
conditions have been met or violated. The hearing requirements
of subsection (a) are not applicable to a determination that a
student is not eligible for readmission or to remain in
probationary continued enrollment because of violation of or
failure to meet such conditions.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a
hearing otherwise required under subsection (a) may be waived in
a written agreement providing for the student's disciplinary
exclusion from school programs for a specified period of time,
entered into by the board of school directors and the student
and in the case of a student under eighteen (18) years of age,
also by the parent or guardian having primary custody of the
student. Any such agreement shall be filed permanently in the
student's disciplinary records and shall be treated in the same
way as an adjudication of expulsion for purposes of subsections
(b) and (c), this subsection and Article XIII-A. Consideration
by the board of a proposed agreement in lieu of hearing shall
not constitute grounds for disqualifying the board or members
thereof from participating in a hearing or taking other action
pursuant to this section in the event the agreement is not
approved by the board. The agreements shall set forth:
(1) A summary of the reason for the exclusion.
(2) The effective date and expiration date of the period of
exclusion.
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(3) The date when the student may be considered for earlier
readmission.
(4) A summary of the procedural rights the student would
have been afforded at a hearing.
(5) Agreed conditions of readmission or of probationary
continued enrollment, if any.
(6) Any other terms and conditions of the agreed
disciplinary disposition.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter the
obligations of school entities pursuant to the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (Public Law 91-230, 20 U.S.C. § 1400
et seq.) and Federal regulations thereunder relating to the
discipline of students with disabilities.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt an
expelled student or the student's parents or legal guardians
from compulsory education requirements or the penalties
contained in sections 1333, 1338 and 1338.1 if they fail to
provide the student with a sufficient alternate placement
program.
Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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