W.Va. Board of Education Seeks Public Input on Student Behavior Policy

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Board of Education is concerned about school safety and is considering updates to state policy about student behavior.

The board voted Wednesday to place proposed revisions to Policy 4373, Expected Behavior in Safe and Supportive Schools on public comment for 60 days.

This proposed policy would combine five existing policies that deal with behavior into one comprehensive policy.  If approved, the existing five policies would be repealed and replaced with the new proposed Policy 4373, Expected Behavior in Safe and Supportive Schools.  The five existing policies include: 

• 2418 Regulations for Alternative Education Programs for Disruptive Students
• 2421 Racial, Sexual, Religious/Ethnic Harassment and Violence
• 2422.5 Substance Abuse and Tobacco Control
• 4372 Student Rights and Responsibilities
• 4373 Student Code of Conduct

 This policy update defines expected behavior standards specific to programmatic grade levels including self-management skills, social skills and responsible decision-making skills.  The policy would require schools to assure that these skills are taught appropriately across all grade levels to prepare students for success in school, in the community and in the work world.

Inappropriate behaviors are defined within this policy and lists of meaningful interventions and consequences for such behaviors are provided. 

The revision would  remove “out-of-school suspension” for Level 1 disruptive behaviors.  “Out-of-school suspension” is also removed for Level 3 Tobacco, Imitation Drug and Inhalant behaviors because these behaviors warrant parent involvement and treatment services.

The policy also outlines requirements for counties to have consistent procedures for receiving complaints of inappropriate behavior, investigating complaints and taking appropriate action on substantiated complaints.

Educators, parents and community members are encouraged to review the policies and make suggestions. The policies can be viewed and comments can be submitted by logging onto the West Virginia Department of Education website at http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies

For more information, contact the Office of Communications at (304) 558-2699..

--The West Virginia Board of Education and the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) are committed to ensuring all students in the state are college and career ready when they graduate from a public school. What West Virginia students are learning in school exceeds national and international standards. Through the WVDE’s 21^st century learning plan called “Global21: Students deserve it. The world demands it.,” West Virginia is seeing better student performance on the West Virginia Educational Standards Test 2 (WESTEST2); the SAT and the ACT college entrance exams; the job skills assessment called Work Keys given to career and technical education students; and in a high school graduation rate that exceeds the national average. 

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