INFORMATIONAL

  The 1997 General Assembly passed House Bill 1877 addressing
  the initial removal of  a student for disruptive behavior
  from a class by the teacher [See: Attachment 1 for a copy of
  the enrolled bill]. Specifically the legislation
  accomplished the following:

       establishes the initial authority of the teacher to
       remove a student for disruptive behavior from a class,
       with disruptive behavior defined as  "a violation of
       school board regulations governing student conduct that
       interrupts or obstructs the learning environment";

       requires the Board of Education to amend the Student
       Conduct Policy Guidelines to incorporate criteria for
       the removal of students by teachers; and 

       requires local school boards, by July 1, 1998, to

       establish within their regulations governing student
       conduct criteria for teachers to remove disruptive
       students from class, in accordance with the
       requirements set out in 22.1-276.2 of the Code of
       Virginia.  Local policy is to be consistent with, but
       may be more stringent than, the Board of Education
       criteria.


  The Board of Education,  at its meeting on February 26,
  1998, adopted Criteria for Teachers to Remove Students from
  Class for Disruptive Behavior, as an addendum to the 1994
  Student Conduct Policy Guidelines [See : Attachment 2 for a
  copy of the criteria]. As noted above, local policy should
  be based on this criteria.   These Guidelines are currently
  undergoing revision to incorporate not only these criteria,
  but other legislative changes since the Guidelines were
  originally adopted in 1994.

  Questions about these requirements or the Board's  Student
  Conduct Policy Guidelines may be addressed to Marsha O.
  Hubbard, Specialist for Safe Schools, at (804) 225-2923.

  JLD/hdc

  Attachments: A hard copy of this memo and its attachments
               will be sent to the superintendent's office.