"President Hardesty, Vice-President White, Distinguished Members and Superintendent Blatt, I am Jim Brown, the Executive Director of the West Virginia School Board Association. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
Normally, I refrain from speaking as a delegation at your board meetings. However, the urgency of a current issue prompts me to express concerns regarding potential legislation to address elementary school discipline. Given the opportunity, It is highly probable that either the House or Senate Education Committee’s elementary student discipline bills will resurface in some form during the upcoming special legislative session. Therefore, I believe it is crucial to voice our concerns. Unequivocally, I wish to underscore my appreciation for the leadership shown by both education committees in tackling this significant challenge confronting our public schools.
Important to note, the intent of legislation introduced in the Senate Education Committee and passed by the full Senate did not deal with typical discipline matters in our elementary schools. This legislation spoke to students in kindergarten through six grade whose behavior is violent, threatening, or intimidating. We can all agree, traditional disciplinary measures or consequences have little to no effect on these types of behaviors. If this legislation passes, immediately these students will be removed from the classroom and suspended for one to three days. The student will receive their education through a behavioral intervention program and may not return to school until a risk assessment is complete. From experience, the turnaround time for a behavioral risk assessment is not days but in many cases weeks. Given the lack of a behavioral intervention program at the elementary level, these students will most likely receive their instruction through homebound services, typically four hours of direct instruction per week. Once the risk assessment is complete, the student returns to school on a provisional basis for a period of five to ten days. Within this short timeframe, the expectation is that mental health services, supports and accommodations will be in place and the problem solved. However, if another incident occurs within that time frame, the student is then placed in an alternative learning environment for the remainder of the semester or school year. So basically, a two strikes and you’re out plan. Because this legislation is not permissive in nature and the conditions shall be followed, the end result is that these students will likely be placed on “homebound services” due to a lack of an alternative learning environment and their behaviors will go unaddressed. Having served as an elementary principal and a school district superintendent, I can attest this punitive approach fails to adequately address the underlying issues and to provide these students with the supports they need to succeed.
If the truth be told, our elementary schools are ill-equipped to manage let alone address the mental health issues our students are dealing with. Only a small percentage of school districts in our state have an established alternative learning environment for elementary age students.
In closing, experts in this field would remind us all, to not attack the child but attack the behavior. In order to do so, we need to acknowledge the reality of mental health challenges faced by our school-age children and the varying degrees of crisis they experience. It is imperative that we conduct an honest review of the supports available across our state, from urban communities to the most rural settings. To effectively address this pressing issue, we must further gather data on the prevalence rate of mental health cases among our youth and assess the severity of these crises. Only then will we be able to systematically identify, provide, and implement strategies aligned with the challenges our students are facing.
Above all else, the responsibility for addressing mental health challenges cannot solely fall upon the shoulders of our public school system. It is clear that a comprehensive and collaborative approach involving all stakeholders is necessary. Therefore, I urge the establishment of a statewide task force that brings together educators, mental health professionals, community leaders, parents, and policymakers to develop and implement a holistic strategy to tackle this crisis."
Jim Brown, Executive Director, WV School Board Association