Student discipline and violence

Student Code of Conduct

School districts and open-enrollment charter schools must develop a Student Code of Conduct (SCC) in conjunction with district-level and site-based decision making committees. The SCC operates in conjunction with the discretionary and mandatory sanctions outlined in Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code. Teachers can expect administrators and the board to enforce the SCC. Legislation passed in 2009 requires that the SCC specify that consideration will be given to mitigating factors (self-defense, intent, disciplinary history, etc.) when determining whether a student will be suspended, expelled or removed to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) or juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP), regardless of whether the decision relates to a mandatory or discretionary removal. 

Teacher removal of students from class

Chapter 37 gives teachers the means to protect a disciplined environment. Teachers can remove from class students who continuously or seriously disrupt learning. A principal can assign the student to a DAEP, suspend or expel the student, or put the student in another teacher’s class. A teacher can refuse a student’s return to class, subject only to the right of the campus placement review committee to place the student back in the class as the best or only alternative placement. Legislation initiated by TCTA ensures that a student may not be returned to the class of a teacher without the teacher’s consent, if the student had been removed by the teacher for assault causing bodily injury to the teacher. The teacher may not be coerced to consent, and the decision may not be overturned by a disciplinary review committee as with other removals.

Expulsion for serious criminal conduct

Chapter 37 specifies when districts are required or allowed to expel students who engage in very serious crimes, such as aggravated assault or sexual assault or drug and alcohol offenses.

Expulsion and continued education

In most counties of more than 125,000 people, districts must educate expelled students in a JJAEP. Education of expelled students under age 10 must occur in a DAEP. If a student transfers, the new district may continue the expulsion. A district can expel a student who, after placement in a DAEP, continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior.

Disciplinary alternative education programs

The law identifies crimes for which teachers are required to remove students from a class, and teachers can expect districts to enforce the mandatory placement provisions. Sec. 37.006 of the Texas Education Code identifies a number of crimes that require districts to place students in a DAEP, including assaults of teachers. In some cases, a crime committed wholly apart from school, for example the offense of retaliation against a teacher, requires the district to place the student in a DAEP. Districts cannot assign students under age 6 to a DAEP, unless they bring a firearm to school. Schools cannot place elementary students with nonelementary students in a DAEP. 

Evaluation of DAEPs

The law requires DAEPs to provide for students’ educational and behavioral needs, and the educational mission of DAEPs is to enable students to perform at grade level. The commissioner, as required by law, adopted rules for the annual evaluation of DAEPs, which includes student performance. Districts are required to administer a pre- and post-assessment of academic growth for students placed in a DAEP for 90 school days or longer. The instrument shall be administered on initial placement of the student in the program and on the date of the student’s departure from the program, or as near that date as possible. Procedures for administering the pre- and post-assessments shall be developed and implemented in accordance with local school district policy.

Placement of registered sex offender

Pursuant to TCTA-initiated legislation in 2007, a student who is a registered sex offender is required to be placed in a DAEP or JJAEP for at least one semester. The placement of the student is reviewed after one semester and annually thereafter by a committee that includes a teacher from the school the student would be attending, the student’s parole/probation officer (if there is none, then a representative of a local juvenile probation department), an instructor from the AEP, a school district designee and a school counselor.

If a student transfers to a different district during the required alternative placement period, the new district may require the student to complete an additional semester without reviewing the placement or may consider the time previously spent in a DAEP. The student’s placement in the AEP continues until it is determined that placement in the regular classroom is not a threat to students or teachers, will not disrupt the educational process, and is not contrary to the best interests of the students. Placement of a student receiving special education services must be reviewed by the ARD committee, which may request that the district convene a placement committee as described above to assist the ARD committee. If the student is not under court supervision of any kind, the district may place the student in a regular classroom, unless it is determined that such a placement is a threat to students or the teacher, will disrupt the educational process, or is otherwise not in the best interests of the students.

Notification to educators

Educators have the right to be notified about students under their supervision who have certain types of disciplinary or criminal history. 

More information on grounds for removal, suspension or expulsion is available in the student discipline rights and responsibilities chart.

TCTA offers several online continuing professional education seminars relating to student discipline and violence. Members can earn 1.25 CPE credit hours for each of the following: “Real solutions to behavior problems,” “School violence: What’s really going on?,” “School safety,” “Positive behavior supports,” “How to avoid power struggles: Dealing with angry and difficult students,” and “Discipline options”; 1.5 CPE credit hours for each of the following: “When is student behavior a crime?” or “Transitions: Into and out of a disciplinary AEP”; and 1 CPE hour for “An alternative view of responding to school violence.” All are available at tcta.org/seminars.