CHARLESTON — After falling apart on the last day of the 2024 legislative session last year, a bill that passed the House of Delegates Monday addressing violent student behavior in elementary school grades could graduate by the end of the 2025 session.

The House of Delegates passed House Bill 2515 – relating to elementary behavior intervention and safety — in a 93-4 vote Monday morning. The bill now heads to the state Senate.

“House Bill 2515 specifies the requirements for when a grade kindergarten through sixth teacher determines that the behavior of a student is violent, threatening, or intimidating toward staff or peers, or creates an unsafe learning environment or impedes on other students’ ability to learn in a safe environment,” said House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer. “The bill also provides for behavior intervention and safety for students in grades 6 through 12.”

HB 2515 advocates for creating alternative learning centers in counties or expansion of existing centers, subject to funding, to address the behaviors of chronically disruptive students. The bill allows multiple counties to share use of an alternative learning center.

For counties without alternative learning centers, the bill mandates specific disciplinary steps when a teacher determines a student’s behavior crosses over into violent or dangerous actions, including immediate removal from the classroom away from other students for the remainder of the day, parental notification, and a three-day suspension.

A student removed from a classroom three times in a month would receive an in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, or placement in an alternative learning center. The bill also permits for the expulsion of a student, but only if repeated behavior occurs. The bill allows for a teacher or principal to come to the expulsion hearing and allows both to appeal to the county superintendent over any disagreement.

The bill also makes an evaluation under Child Find permissive. Child Find is a service that determines whether the student has “developmental delays or exceptionalities and may need special education and related services.” It does, however, make a reference for functional behavioral analysis mandatory. The bill also requires that the student be referred to the student assistance team, a 504 team, or the individual education plan (IEP) team at the school.

The bill amended a law passed two years ago addressing student behavior in middle and high schools, allowing teachers to exclude students from the classroom who exhibit “disorderly conduct,” interfere with the “orderly educational process,” or obstruct learning.

The bill mandates that the West Virginia Board of Education adopt a statewide disciplinary policy to be approved by the Legislature. The engrossed committee substitute for HB 2515 allows a county or school with a behavioral interventionist on staff to apply for a waiver from the statewide disciplinary policy if they demonstrate “continued positive educational progress.”

HB 2515 also gives more latitude to teachers to maintain control over their classrooms, allowing them to exclude students guilty of a range of misbehavior. Teachers can appeal to the county superintendent if a school principal refuses to allow the exclusion of a student from the classroom.

Speaking after the Senate floor session Monday afternoon, Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady said an amended version of HB 2515 will be incorporated into Senate Bill 199, which also deals with elementary school student discipline. SB 199 is on Tuesday morning’s Senate Education Committee agenda.

Grady, who was the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 614 that died last year, said she’s been in near-constant contact with Ellington and the House Education Committee, as well as the state Department of Education.

“I looked at the changes that they made. I really think that they made a lot of really good changes to the bill and made it a lot better than what it was last year,” said Grady, R-Mason.

Grady said much of what is in HB 2515 will remain in the committee substitute for SB 199 being taken up by her committee Tuesday. But changes that will be considered include requiring students who run afoul of these new student disciplinary procedures the first time to see a school counselor, school social worker or psychologist and set up a behavior plan to be implemented for a two-week period.

If adequate progress is not made at the end of that two-week period, then the student would continue on the plan for another two weeks before a student is removed from the school.

“Sometimes you might have one instance where they do something and then they change that behavior whenever you set up a plan for them,” said Grady, who works as an elementary school teacher. “And sometimes you have the repeat offenders, which is really less than maybe one percent of students. That’s what this is trying to deal with.

“I’m trying to make sure we get it right,” Grady continued. “We’re trying to make sure we have enough things in place where it protects kids who may be in a situation, such as foster care, to where they may need a little extra time to adjust to a new setting.”

Grady said based on the progress of the bills and the work the House has done to make improvements, she is optimistic that an elementary school discipline bill can end up on the desk of Gov. Patrick Morrisey by the end of session on April 12.

“I feel better,” Grady said. “I feel like it’s a better bill that can get everybody in the school involved in helping these kids instead of automatically going to the alternative learning centers.”