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2001 SESSION

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015875876
HOUSE BILL NO. 1866 Offered January 10, 2001 Prefiled January 4, 2001 A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 63.1-248.4:1, relating to child protective services; corporal punishment by school personnel. ---------- Patron-- Orrock ---------- Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 63.1-248.4:1 as follows:

§ 63.1-248.4:1. Complaints by others of corporal punishment by school personnel.

A. Any person who suspects that a child is an abused or neglected child because such child has been subject to corporal punishment by a teacher, principal or other person employed by a school board or employed in a school operated by the Commonwealth may make a complaint concerning such child to the local department of the county or city wherein the child resides or wherein the abuse or neglect is believed to have occurred or to the Department of Social Services' toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline. Pursuant to § 22.1-279.1, no teacher, principal or other person employed by a school board or employed in a school operated by the Commonwealth shall subject a student to corporal punishment. However, this prohibition of corporal punishment shall not be deemed to prevent (i) the use of incidental, minor or reasonable physical contact or other actions designed to maintain order and control; (ii) the use of reasonable and necessary force to quell a disturbance or remove a student from the scene of a disturbance that threatens physical injury to persons or damage to property; (iii) the use of reasonable and necessary force to prevent a student from inflicting physical harm on himself; (iv) the use of reasonable and necessary force for self-defense or the defense of others; or (v) the use of reasonable and necessary force to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects or controlled substances or paraphernalia that are upon the person of the student or within his control. In determining whether a person was acting within the exceptions provided in this section, due deference shall be given to reasonable judgments at the time of the event that were made by a teacher, principal or other person employed by a school board or employed in a school operated by the Commonwealth.

B. For the purposes of this section, "corporal punishment" means the infliction of, or causing the infliction of, physical pain on a student as a means of discipline within the definition of abused or neglected child in § 63.1-248.2.

The definitions of "corporal punishment" or "abused or neglected child" shall not include physical pain, injury or discomfort caused by the use of incidental, minor or reasonable physical contact or other actions designed to maintain order and control as permitted in clause (i) of subsection A or the use of reasonable and necessary force as permitted by clauses (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) of subsection A, or by participation in practice or competition in an interscholastic sport, or participation in physical education or an extracurricular activity.