Disruptive students addressed in new laws

Monday, July 11, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada is reviving a program aimed at dealing with disruptive students in the classrooms of at-risk schools.

The Legislature agreed to set aside $500,000 in each fiscal year for pilot projects at these schools and then analyze the results.

Carol Lark, assistant superintendent of the southeast region in the Clark County School District, said these programs benefit the 98 percent of the students who are trying to learn and don't act out.

The project is included in one of the more than 40 bills affecting public schools which were approved by the Legislature. Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction, said the number of bills is second only to the total passed in the 1999 Legislature.

Included on the list of education bills are ones to require high school students to pass a proficiency examination in science starting in the 2007-2008 school year before they can receive their diploma, and moving the fourth grade writing exam to the fifth grade.

The issue of disruptive students is dealt with in three bills.

One new law requires the state Department of Education to adopt regulations for schools to "provide a safe and respectful learning environment that is free of harassment and intimidation."

Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, said he and Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, sponsored the bill to give teeth to a 2001 law. Its aim is to stop discrimination or harassment either by teachers or students in the schools.

The number and severity of discipline problems has held steady in Nevada schools in the last few years, says Rheault. "The districts have gotten better at working with the students," and there have not been a lot of complaints, he said.

But Lark sees a "tremendous need" to deal with students who act out. She was principal of C.T. Sewell Elementary School in Clark County. In 2001 the state provided grants to schools with unruly students and Sewell was one of four schools in Southern Nevada to get money.

Only 1 to 2 percent of the students are discipline problems but teachers have to spend extra time to control them, she said.

She said she recruited 11 teachers and a behavioral specialist to work not only with the students but with their families. Some of the families admitted they could not control their children, she said.

There were 66 students who were disciplinary problems the first year and that was reduced to 35 repeat students the second year through the program, she said.

Rheault said Lark turned "one of the worst schools into one of the better ones." He said there teacher retention improved and student scores rose.

Lark testified at the Legislature this session urging the state to reinvest in the program, which had not gotten any money from the 2003 Legislature.

The state Education Department must develop applications by Aug. 15 and schools must apply by Oct. 1 to get the money. The grants must be approved by Oct. 31. Schools that receive money must report by Oct. 1, 2006, on the outcomes. And the department is given $10,000 to hire a contractor to examine how schools that got the money compared with those that just established programs without state aid.

Parks said Friday a law was approved in 2001 that made a "declaration for a safe and respectful learning environment" but the law this time carries it a step further. It will require the state to work with districts on their policies for training.

For instance, he said there was a case in the Clark County School District where a volunteer intimidated young female students who were overweight. But the district did not want to lose the volunteer so it did not take action, he said.

In Washoe County, Parks said a girl who wore a religious object to school was harassed by other students and the district did not do anything. In another case, a boy was beat up by other students and nothing occurred, he said. He said lawsuits followed.

And these cases of harassment or discrimination "just don't happen in high schools but as early as the third grade," said Parks.

One major problem, Parks said is that a teacher can only go so far in disciplining students. He said a teacher may reprimand a student and not get the support of school administrators.

To get a handle on the problem, another new law requires the school districts each September to report any personnel action taken against an employee or any suspension or expulsion of a student for these violations.

The new law requires the education department by next January to adopt a policy for all districts to provide a safe environment and each district must ensure that the policy is effective before July 1, 2006.

A third new law allows a student suspended or expelled from a public school to enroll in a program of independent study or distance education. And the student is able to enter a charter school that is designed exclusively for pupils with disciplinary problems.

But a charter school, before accepting a student, is entitled to examine the records of the public school involving the suspension or expulsion.