At a time when education officials are trying to find ways to reduce suspensions, and keep more West Virginia kids in school, lawmakers are moving to again expand the power teachers have to remove students from their classrooms.
Last year, lawmakers passed a bill giving middle school and high school teachers wider discretion to remove disruptive students from their classroom for the remainder of the day. On Wednesday, the House passed HB 4776 which would expand the law to elementary school classrooms.
A report issued last year by the West Virginia Department of Education showed Black, low-income, foster children and children with disabilities were more likely to be suspended than white children from more affluent backgrounds.
The state data also showed students who were suspended from school performed worse in reading and math than students who were not. Students missed a total of nearly 178,000 days of school in the 2021-22 academic year due to suspensions.
State officials have been trying to reduce the number of suspensions, but have found the school discipline law passed last year overly broad and up to a lot of interpretation on the part of teachers.
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AFT-WV President Fred Albert said the passage is a “step in the right direction.” But teachers don’t want carte blanche to just remove children.
“Suspension is one of the last things we want to do, but we need to have all the tools we can for our teachers,” he said.
Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, plans to introduce her own school discipline bill and said she has concerns about the House measure to treat kindergarteners the same as high schoolers.
“I’ve been speaking with the chairs in the House and they know it will be worked over,” Grady, a fourth grade teacher, said. “I don’t know how it will turn out, but we need to do something.”
The bill now goes to the Senate.