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COMMITTEE AND FLOOR ACTION:
SF 2360 – Classroom Management and Therapeutic Classroom
SF 2360 addresses concerns from parents and teachers about some of the most at-need students and the increased use of “room clears” as an immediate response to violent student behaviors. Room clears are when students are evacuated from the classroom while a violent or disruptive child remains in the classroom. The bill has these main components:
- Teacher Training and Preparation: Provides $500,000 for educators to receive additional training on how to manage classroom disruptions, address student behavior and maintain the least restrictive environment.
- Therapeutic Classroom Funding: Therapeutic classrooms provide smaller classes, intensive help and are designed to be short term breaks for students to reset and develop new coping strategies before reentering their home classroom/school. The bill provides $1,582,650 for a grant program to assist districts and community mental health agencies in supporting students in need of help with violent behavior. Schools may collaborate and apply as a regional therapeutic classroom. An additional $500,000 is appropriated to reimburse schools for transportation costs to a regional therapeutic classroom. Grant awards will help establish therapeutic classrooms with one to five pupils, classrooms with six to 10 pupils, and classrooms with 11 to 15 pupils.
- Classroom Clear Requirements: Provides statewide expectations for clearing classrooms and methods to do so, and increases the requirements for school communication with parents of all children affected by a room clear.
- Educator Protection: Increases liability protects for educators when reasonable physical contact is used to relocate a student to protect them and other students from injury. Increases job and whistleblower protections for teachers who report violence and personal attacks to police and administrators.
- Data
Collection: Establishes data reporting to track incidents of violence
or assault by students. This section was amended to make sure it complies
with federal special education and data privacy laws, as well as tracking key
student demographic information to identify overuse or patterns that have a
disproportionate racial, gender or social-economic impact.
Committee: [2/20: 19-1; No: Celsi]
Floor: [2/25: 50-0]