Oregon Legislature Passes Bill to Reform School Discipline and Roll Back “Zero Tolerance” Policies
Salem, OR—The Oregon Senate today passed HB 2192‐B, legislation that removes mandatory expulsion requirements from the state’s school discipline statute. Under the current law, students have been expelled for one calendar year for bringing items to school that were considered dangerous by school administrators, whether students intended any harm or not. Votes in the House and Senate were 60‐0 and 28‐2 (excused), respectively.
After being signed by the Governor, the new legislation will go into effect in July 2014, giving school districts time to update their policies and student handbooks. The new regulations return more discretion to school administrators to decide when the most severe punishments, suspension and expulsion, should be used.
Read the entire press release here.