Signed into law by Governor Kasich on August 3, 2018, Ohio House Bill 318 requires school districts to make significant changes in the area of school safety and discipline. The law is effective on November 2, 2018. However, it is important to note there are phase-in components to the law regarding pre-K through three discipline, as described below.
School Resource Officers
The new law creates specific rules and requirements for school resource officers ("SROs"). Any SRO hired after the effective date of the law must complete a basic peace officer training program and, within one year of appointment, must complete at least 40 hours of specialized training. The specialized training must address, among other things, skills and strategies specific to handling security at schools, being a positive role mode for youth, psychological and physiological characteristics of school-age students, de-escalation techniques and behavior management strategies, and identify the trends of drug use.
SROs hired prior to the effective date of the law are exempt from the 40 hours of specialized training but are still required to complete a basic peace officer training program. The law does not require schools to hire an SRO, but schools that wish to do so must enter into a detailed memorandum of understanding with the law enforcement agency clarifying the purpose of the SRO program, and the roles and expectations of the SRO and the district. If a school district is already working with an SRO as of the effective date of the law, the memorandum of understanding must be entered into within one year of that date.
Interventions and Discipline
Next, the law requires schools to implement Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (“PBIS”) - a multi-tiered, school-wide behavioral framework developed and implemented for the purpose of improving academic and social outcomes and increasing learning for all students. The implementation of PBIS, as mandated by the law, makes significant changes to discipline rules, particularly for young students, and promotes PBIS in lieu of suspending or expelling those students for minor offenses.
The specific PBIS-related changes include: requiring that students be permitted to complete classroom assignments missed during both in-school and out-of-school suspensions; requiring that any in-school suspension be served in a supervised learning environment; requiring the principal (whenever possible) to consult with a mental health professional under contract with the district prior to issuing an out-of-school suspension or expulsion for a student in any of grades pre-K through three; and ensuing that any zero tolerance policies for violence, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior comply with the PBIS provisions.
The law also makes related changes to the process for emergency removal of students, such as requiring the hearing on the emergency removal to be held the next school day after the removal (rather than within three days); and limiting the time which a young student can be emergency removed to one school day. Schools must also provide professional development on PBIS to teachers and administrators in buildings that serve students in grades pre-K through three within three years of the effective date of the law.
The final major change related to PBIS is that schools are prohibited from issuing an out-of-school suspension or expulsion to a student in grades pre-K through three except for serious offenses or only as necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of the student, fellow classmates, classroom staff and teachers, or other school employees.
However, it is important to note that the law also provides some transition relief for the prohibition on issuing an out-of-school suspension or expulsion to a student in grades pre-K through three except for serious offenses or only as necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of the student, fellow classmates, classroom staff and teachers, or other school employees. This requirement is being phased in over the next four school years, with full implementation delayed until the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Although the requirement is delayed, schools must begin reporting to ODE this fall about the out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for students grades pre-K through three, and categorizing the offenses. Schools must then take steps to reduce the number of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for minor offenses each school year, until the 2021-2022 school year when no such discipline can be meted out for minor offenses.
The legislation was introduced in August 2017 by State Representatives John Patterson, D-Jefferson, a former teacher; and Sarah LaTourette, R-Chesterland.
State Senate Education Committee Chair, Peggy Lehner, said “[r]esearch is pretty clear that one of the factors contributing to the achievement gap is the considerable amount of time that struggling students spend out of the classroom. Already academically behind, suspensions only push them further and further behind.” Ohio schools suspend approximately 35,000 students in grades pre-K through three each year. Lehner says that only 5-8% of such suspension are for violent behavior.
Schools should consult policy providers and legal counsel to ensure compliance with this law moving forward.