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1999 SESSION

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HB 1799 Violence intervention and prevention initiatives in public schools.

Introduced by: Whittington W. Clement | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Violence intervention and prevention initiatives in the public schools. Directs the Board of Education, in consultation with the office of the Attorney General, to develop regulations addressing violence prevention and intervention initiatives; local school boards must then adopt and implement violence prevention and intervention initiatives, possibly within the already-required school safety audit, consistent with these regulations.

Promulgated under the Administrative Process Act, the regulations are to include, but not be limited to (i) criteria for developing school board policies governing student conduct and violence prevention and intervention initiatives; (ii) protocol and procedures for identifying and averting potentially violent acts at school; (iii) to the extent constitutionally permissible, the use of mental health screening and assessments for students who have expelled or suspended for specific acts of violence or threats, including standards for student and parental consent for and the confidentiality and subsequent use of any such screening and assessments; (iv) any notice and due process procedures required to protect individual rights; and (v) relevant state and federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory provisions.

Determining the propriety of various intervention initiative typically necessitates consideration and balancing of individual privacy rights and the state’s interest in promoting or preserving the safety and welfare of others in the public schools. Of interest in considering mental health screenings or evaluations for expelled or suspended pupils is a 1993 decision, Kubany v. Sch. Bd. of Pinellas Co. (818 F. Supp. 1504 (M.D. Fla. 1993)), in which a Florida high school student contested a school board policy of reducing drug and alcohol-related suspensions upon the student’s enrollment in an approved drug or alcohol treatment program. The federal district court found that participation in an alcohol and drug treatment program was not coercive, but an option available to students as an alternative to suspension. The court specifically stated that “providing students with treatment and counseling is rationally related to the government’s compelling interest in protecting minors from the dangers caused by the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, the Code … does not under any circumstances coerce a student to attend a program.” The referral to treatment would be “a matter of choice by the parent” rather than a “sentence of imprisonment or penalty” not authorized by the Florida Constitution.


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