Concerns raised over W.Va. Legislature’s school discipline bill
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CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Department of Education continues to work on training and new policies to reduce the number of incidents of student discipline, but a bill passed earlier this year by the state Legislature could throw a wrench in those efforts.
Drew McClanahan, director of Leadership Development and Support for the Department of Education, gave members of the West Virginia Board of Education an update Wednesday during their monthly meeting on the department's efforts to address concerns about disparities in student discipline.
McClanahan said the department is focused on three areas, training/support for schools and administrators, accountability and policy. The department has worked with administrators over the summer through conferences for training, including data reporting practices and root cause analysis of student behavioral problems, best practices for classroom management, student engagement, and instructional quality.
The department has also worked with the Behavior/Mental Health Technical Assistance Center at Marshall University on expanded training and access to support for schools. McClanahan said the department will hold regional training events for principals beginning later this month.
"The focus of all trainings that my office is putting on right now is student behavior, classroom management and supports, and looking at those data protocols and practices, and to understand our influence as educators with a positive school culture, a positive school climate, and a positive classroom environment and how we can impact student behavior," McClanahan said.
McClanahan said the department hopes to have a policy on student discipline for the board to approve in April. The department is also getting set to launch a student discipline data dashboard to provide educators and the public a window into how students are being disciplined in public schools. The dashboard will allow the public to search by type of discipline, rates of suspensions, and demographic groups.
"We believe it will give the public a view to see what kinds of discipline are being used at school," McClanahan said. "We hope that gives the communities an active opportunity to have meaningful conversations with school administrators about what is being used at their school and why."
The state Board of Education received a detailed report in May on school discipline data. During the previous school year, there were 169,963 total discipline incidents with 51,432 students referred for discipline. Nearly one in every 10 students faced suspension last year, representing more than 177,777 of instructional days lost, with an average of 6.19 days lost per student suspended.
Broken down by race, 31 percent of students referred for disciplinary incidents were Black despite Black students representing 4 percent of the student population in 2022. Of those suspended, 20 percent were Black. Students from economically disadvantaged families were also hit hardest by disciplinary referrals and suspensions, with 23 percent of economically disadvantaged students referred for disciplinary action and 14 percent suspended.
Foster students made up 34 percent of the total student population referred for discipline and made up 24 percent of students suspended. Of the number of students suspended, foster children made up 73 percent. Students with disabilities 23 percent of the total student population referred for discipline, 15 percent of the student population suspended, and made up 65 percent of referred students who were suspended. Homeless students represented 29 percent of referrals and 17 percent of suspensions, making up 60 percent of referred students who were suspended.
The Board of Education directed the department in December to expand the scope and depth of a report released in July 2022 on statewide data on school disciplinary actions required by the passage of Senate Bill 723 in 2020 after some board members and community advocates complained that the report didn't drill down into the data.
SB 723 required the Department of Education to look at statewide data on school disciplinary actions and develop a plan to reduce the number of disciplinary actions. The department is required to submit a report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years.
But during the 2023 legislative session earlier this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 2890, modifying student discipline. The bill allows teachers in grades six through 12 to exclude students from the classroom who are disorderly, interfering in the educational process, or obstructing a teacher from their classrooms for the remainder of the school day. The school principal must be informed by the teacher within 24 hours of the disciplinary action, with the teacher required to submit an electronic record of the incident within 24 hours.
"This gives every decision ability to the teacher regardless of what is in policy or in (State) Code," McClanahan said. "The code is written 'as determined by the teacher.' There is no definition for what disruptive or disrespectful conduct pursuant to this particular bill is."
McClanahan said the bill is too vague, not defining when a month is, what happens once a student is removed from class more than three times in a month, or how many days a student can be suspended.
"That's an arbitrary action by that teacher to determine a course of action and what actually violates the law," said state Board of Education President Paul Hardesty. "This is a train wreck waiting to happen."
"The language says 'as determined by the teacher,' so that could be a long-term substitute teacher with minimal training. It could be an experienced teacher. It could be for failure to bring a pencil to class. It could be for anything on that whole gambit outside our definitions in policy and outside any other definition," McClanahan said. "It ties the hands of principals."
Officials said HB 2890 will likely need to be revisited by the Legislature as it looks to improve school discipline in public schools.
"It may be well-intended, but you're not hitting what you're shooting at," Hardesty said.