CASPER — State lawmakers recently met in Casper to discuss upcoming education legislation.
One of the main topics discussed during the two-day Joint Education Committee meeting was student discipline and how schools could better administer punishments.
Four draft bills dealing with discipline were presented to the committee for consideration.
The first draft, 26LSO-0088, would require the state board of education to develop policies regarding the use of “reasonable force by school district employees in the removal of a student.”
It would also grant all school district employees the authority to discipline and punish students, which concerned the superintendent in attendance.
Sheridan County School District #1 Superintendent Jeff Jones told the committee that he is concerned that the provision may be illegal and could cause problems.
Instead, he supported language later in the draft that stated school district employees could enforce school policies.
“So if you’re a coach and somebody’s acting out of line, you have the authority to enforce the expectations,” according to Jones. “That’s different than assigning a suspension.”
The committee later directed the Legislative Service Office to work on amending the bill draft to incorporate Jones’ recommendation.
The bill would also prohibit school administrators from returning a student to a class from which they had been removed without the teacher’s express permission.
The bill draft includes provisions ensuring that teachers are supported by administration in their discipline decisions, which is a promising solution to a common complaint among teachers nationwide.
The committee voted to move the bill to the next meeting and work on amending the draft based on Wyoming Department of Education recommendations, as well as removing the word “punishment” from various sections of the bill.
Teachers’ Bill of Rights
A Teacher Bill of Rights, similar to the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, would outline the basic rights of teachers in the classroom. These are typically associated with feelings of safety and support from administration.
The proposed version from the committee meeting, 26LSO-0091, aimed to accomplish just that.
“The purpose of this act is to recognize, affirm, and protect the rights of certified teachers, paraprofessionals, and all other public education staff in public schools by establishing fundamental guarantees relating to working conditions, academic freedom, professional respect, and support,” according to the bill’s drafting instructions given to the Legislative Service Office.
The committee debated how much of the 26-page bill was truly necessary. Jones believes most of it is unnecessary.
“I get concerned that I’m going to spend February to August next year trying to stay out of jail with the policies that we have to create that correlate with the new law,” Jones said of the legislation’s length and scope.
Lead by example.
Another bill draft presented to the committee would require the state superintendent of public instruction to create model policies for student discipline to help school districts develop their own policies.
The bill draft for 26LSO-0089 would include that requirement among the model policies that the superintendent is already required to create. It does not require any school district to implement the model policies.
Dicky Shanor, chief of staff for the Wyoming Department of Education, stated that Superintendent Megan Degenfelder prefers another draft, 26LSO-0088. He stated that department officials believe anything that 26LSO-0089 wishes to accomplish can be accomplished in 26LSO-0088.
The final draft of 26LSO-0090, the third measure discussed at the meeting, took a very different approach than the previous three.
The committee killed this bill, which would have established a categorical grant for school districts to provide professional development opportunities for teachers and other staff related to student success.
