Relating to education, including by modifying provisions related to the duties of the department of education, the discipline of students enrolled in school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools who exhibit disorderly conduct in the classroom, the responsibilities and powers of the department of education, school district teachers, and other educational staff related to students who have individualized education programs or plans under section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, and school district professional development plans, and authorizing teachers to request a meeting of a student’s individualized education program team

This bill relates to education, including by modifying provisions related to the Iowa school performance profiles published by the department of education; the discipline of students enrolled in school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools who exhibit disorderly conduct in the classroom; and authorizing teachers to request a meeting of a student’s individualized education program team. Pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and 2013 Iowa Acts, chapter 121, section 73, the department of education is required to publish on the department’s internet site an online tool showing how public schools performed on certain required measures. 20. The bill provides that for purposes of calculating a performance grade for a school district or an attendance center, a school district’s or attendance center’s performance grade shall be positively affected by the school district’s efforts to create a safe learning environment, including by suspending or expelling a student due to the student’s disorderly conduct or contacting law enforcement due to the student’s disorderly conduct. The bill authorizes a teacher to exclude from the teacher’s classroom and place under the supervision of the principal any student who, while in the teacher’s classroom, engages in disorderly conduct; threatens, abuses, intimidates, or attempts to intimidate another student or any school employee; or uses abusive or profane language. A student who is enrolled in kindergarten through grade five, and who was excluded from a teacher’s classroom, shall not be readmitted to the teacher’s classroom until after the principal provides written notice to the teacher indicating that the student will be readmitted. A student who is enrolled in grades 6 through 12, and who was excluded from a teacher’s classroom, shall not be readmitted to the teacher’s classroom until after the principal provides written notice to the teacher indicating that the student will be readmitted, and such student shall not be readmitted to the teacher’s classroom until, at the earliest, the immediately subsequent school day. The bill provides that if the principal determines that disciplinary action should be taken against a student who was excluded from a teacher’s classroom pursuant to the bill’s provisions, then the principal is required to take such disciplinary action and provide notice of such disciplinary action to the student’s parent or guardian. If a student was excluded from a teacher’s classroom for the remainder of a school day three times in any 30-day period, then the principal is required to discipline the student by either assigning the student to in-school or out-of-school suspension or recommending to the superintendent that the student be placed in an alternative learning environment that has been approved by the superintendent. In addition, if a student was excluded from a teacher’s classroom because the student’s conduct, statements, or other actions were severe or pervasive, then, if requested by the teacher, the principal shall impose the maximum amount of punishment applicable to such conduct, statements, or other actions as provided in policies adopted by the board of directors of the school district or the governing board of the charter school or innovation zone school. The bill authorizes a teacher to appeal a principal’s refusal to allow the teacher to exclude a student from the teacher’s classroom, and a principal’s readmission of a student to a teacher’s classroom prior to the time such student should have been readmitted, to the board of directors of the school district or the governing board of the charter school or innovation zone school. The bill prohibits the board of directors of a school district or the governing board of a charter school or innovation zone school from taking any disciplinary action against a teacher for exercising the teacher’s appeal rights provided in the bill. The bill establishes enforcement mechanisms in the event the board of directors of the school district or the governing board of the charter school or innovation zone school does take a disciplinary action against a teacher for exercising the teacher’s appeal rights provided in the bill.21(2) (corporal punishment —— burden of proof). The bill provides that if a teacher faces legal action, disciplinary action, or professional sanctions for an action the teacher takes under the teacher’s approved classroom management plan, there shall be a rebuttable presumption in such proceeding that the teacher’s action was necessary to restore and maintain the safety or instruction atmosphere of the teacher’s classroom. The bill requires the board of directors of a school district and the governing board of a charter school or innovation zone school to immediately grant a teacher a leave of absence for physical and mental recovery with full pay for at least five days if the teacher is injured due to a student’s disorderly conduct. The bill requires a principal to carry out the principal’s responsibilities under the bill’s provisions in an expeditious manner and to carry out other specified responsibilities in an expeditious manner.65A (discipline of students who make threats of violence or cause incidents of violence) to be consistent with the bill’s provisions. The bill authorizes a teacher to request a meeting of a student’s individualized education program team at any time by submitting an electronic or written request to an administrator. An administrator may deny such a request if the denial is provided to the teacher in writing and describes why applicable federal law does not require such a meeting. The bill defines “administrator”, “disorderly conduct”, “principal”, and “teacher”.