Bill Text: TX HB1033 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the placement of video cameras in self-contained classrooms providing special education services.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-02 - Referred to Public Education [HB1033 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HB1033-Introduced.html
84R6633 JSL-F | ||
By: Leach | H.B. No. 1033 |
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relating to the placement of video cameras in self-contained | ||
classrooms providing special education services. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 26.009(b), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(b) An employee of a school district is not required to | ||
obtain the consent of a child's parent before the employee may make | ||
a videotape of a child or authorize the recording of a child's voice | ||
if the videotape or voice recording is to be used only for: | ||
(1) purposes of safety, including the maintenance of | ||
order and discipline in common areas of the school or on school | ||
buses; | ||
(2) a purpose related to a cocurricular or | ||
extracurricular activity; | ||
(3) a purpose related to regular classroom | ||
instruction; [ |
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(4) media coverage of the school; or | ||
(5) a purpose related to the promotion of student | ||
safety under Section 29.022. | ||
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 29.022 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 29.022. VIDEO SURVEILLANCE OF CLASSROOMS. (a) In | ||
order to promote student safety on request by a parent, trustee, or | ||
staff member, a school district or open-enrollment charter school | ||
shall provide equipment, including a video camera, to each school | ||
in the district or each charter school campus in which a student | ||
receiving special education services in a self-contained classroom | ||
is enrolled. Each school or campus that receives equipment shall | ||
place the video camera in a self-contained classroom in which the | ||
only students in regular attendance: | ||
(1) are eligible to take an alternative assessment | ||
instrument under Section 39.023(b) or would be eligible to take an | ||
alternative assessment instrument under Section 39.023(b) if the | ||
students were enrolled in a grade level for which an assessment | ||
instrument required under Section 39.023 is administered; and | ||
(2) are nonverbal or have a limited ability to | ||
communicate. | ||
(b) Video cameras placed under this section must be capable | ||
of covering all areas of the classroom, except that a bathroom or | ||
any area in the classroom in which a student's clothes are changed | ||
may not be monitored. | ||
(c) Before a school or campus places a video camera in a | ||
classroom under this section, the school or campus shall provide | ||
written notice of the placement to the parents of a student | ||
receiving special education services in the classroom. For | ||
purposes related to this section, but subject to Subsection (d), | ||
parental consent is not required. | ||
(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may | ||
not place a video camera in the classroom of a student whose parent | ||
sends to the district or school a written objection to the placement | ||
of a camera not later than the 30th day after the date on which the | ||
district or school sends the notice required under Subsection (c). | ||
(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school | ||
shall retain video recorded from a camera placed under this section | ||
for at least six months after the date the video was recorded. | ||
(f) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may | ||
solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any person for | ||
use in placing video cameras in classrooms under this section. | ||
(g) This section does not: | ||
(1) waive any immunity from liability of a school | ||
district or open-enrollment charter school, or of district or | ||
school officers or employees; or | ||
(2) create any liability for a cause of action against | ||
a school district or open-enrollment charter school or against | ||
district or school officers or employees. | ||
(h) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may | ||
not allow regular or continual monitoring of video recorded under | ||
this section. | ||
(i) A video recording of a student made according to this | ||
section is confidential and may not be released or viewed except by | ||
a school nurse or human resources staff member designated by the | ||
board of trustees of a school district or the governing body of an | ||
open-enrollment charter school in response to a complaint or an | ||
investigation of district or school personnel or in accordance with | ||
this subsection. If the person viewing the video determines that a | ||
recording documents a violation of district or school policy, the | ||
person may allow access to the recording to appropriate legal and | ||
human resources personnel. A recording determined to document a | ||
violation of district or school policy may be used as part of a | ||
disciplinary action against district or school personnel and may be | ||
released at the request of the student's parent or guardian in a | ||
legal proceeding. This subsection does not limit the access of a | ||
student's parent to a record regarding the student under the Family | ||
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section | ||
1232g) or other law. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016 | ||
school year. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |