Governor Joe Lombardo and republicans are making school safety a pillar in their agenda for the 82nd Nevada Legislative Session.
In 2019, AB-168 was passed in order to have a more compassionate, and non-punitive, approach to helping students struggling with disruptive behavior in school.
The law uses what's called "restorative justice practices' which means disruptive students cannot be permanently expelled.
Republican Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen says there needs to be repeals to that provision in order to make the school environment safer for teachers and students in Nevada.
"We sometimes find that when legislation passes there is some unintended consequences and there have been some issues with student discipline. I think all of us have heard some pretty scary stories in the news of teachers being assaulted and students safety is at risk as well,” said Hansen.
Under the bill, school administrators cannot permanently expel a child under the age of 11.
The only situation in which administrators can permanently expel a child is if that child is found to be in possession of a gun or drugs. Hansen's bill will aim to repeal those provisions.
“Some of these reforms we're looking at will give administrators on sight the ability to deal with those issues in a way that will be beneficial to the student, but also beneficial to the staff, and to the other students there, and not just a one size fits all. Take a more surgical approach to dealing with these students that are a real threat and need some very serious help in other ways,” said Hansen.
Assemblywoman Hansen has been working with superintendents in the six counties she represents.
For those superintendents the biggest question is how to effectively apply restorative justice practices to students who are engaging in violent behavior.
"These include violent acts toward other students, students that were destroying classrooms, literally upending tables, swinging chairs, pushing computers off of the tables,” Humboldt County School District Dave Jensen.
Jensen says principals and teachers are severely limited in responding to violent behavior under the restorative justice law.
In Governor Lombardo’s State of the State address, he implored the legislature to “remove the handcuffs” from teachers and administrator who want to have greater ability to discipline disruptive students.
“A growing frustration from our teachers on the perception that we were not able to make appropriate responses to violent acts that were occurring within the classroom,” Jensen said.
But he told me that he doesn’t “want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
"This is not an attempt to just simply throw out the entire bill, but to ask the question. Can we make improvements on it which maintain safety for our students and staff in the classroom, while still recognizing restorative practices?" Jensen added.
I reached out to the Assembly Democratic Caucus and they told us they will address this topic at a later date.
