WV lawmakers try again to address violent student behavior without mental health support, funding

Yahoo

25-02-2025

Despite teachers reporting violent behavior in students, lawmakers haven't introduced any bills that would support mental health help in schools. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch)
West Virginia lawmakers are trying again this year to address worsening elementary student behavior that has interrupted classroom instruction time and put some teachers in danger.
The Republican-backed measure, which the House Education Committee vetted Monday, outlines a protocol for elementary educators to remove disruptive or violent teachers. It doesn't come with any mental health support for children, some as young as 5 years old — an issue for educators who spoke with lawmakers on Monday. Fewer than half of the counties don't have alternative learning centers for children who may be removed from school.
'We have to find an answer,' said Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia. 'We cannot simply stop all other education values that are going in that classroom because of one or two students.'
But after two years of work on the issue, educators and lawmakers still aren't in agreement with educators on how to balance supporting teachers while also helping young children with mental health issues. Young kids' mental health issues and emotional regulation issues are regularly tied to growing up in families impacted by the state's substance abuse crisis.
'What you don't see in this bill is addressing the root cause: the issues we have with mental health,' said Jim Brown, executive director for the West Virginia School Board Association. 'These kids more often than not have been subjected to abuse … some adults have contributed to where these kids are at in their development.''
West Virginia has a high child poverty rate and leads the nation in its rate of overdose deaths and children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome.
'Some of these students are coming from parents who are opioid addicted and they are born and raised in trauma,' Brown added.
Lawmakers considered a similar measure last year as teachers detailed how disruptive students — commonly in kindergarten — put them in danger, sharing stories of being hit, kicked and assaulted with items like iPads and staplers. The classroom disruptions have continued to the state's low academic achievement, they said.
'Folks who go to school to be an elementary teacher, this isn't what they signed up to do,' Brown told members of the House Education Committee.
While the issue was a top concern for teachers in 2024, the bill died on the final night of the 2024 session amid disagreements between the House and Senate.
The House Education Committee is this year advancing a similar bill, House Bill 2515, that would allow elementary teachers to remove violent students for the remainder of the school day, and students would be suspended for the next one to three school days while alternative learning accommodations are made.
'If the student needs to be removed, the parent or guardian needs to pick them up in the office. They may not go home on the bus,' said bill sponsor Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer. School officials could contact law enforcement if no one picks up the student, according to the legislation.
The student would return to school on a provisional basis for a period of five to 10 days. If another behavioral incident occurs within that time frame, the student would be placed in an alternative learning environment for the remainder of the semester or school year.
Alternative learning centers are only available in 13 of the state's 55 counties, and kids without a place to go would likely have to do virtual learning at home. Eight additional counties have grant funding to start their own programs.
The bill doesn't at this time have any funding attached; designated money could allow for the expansion of alternative learning centers or partnerships with outside agencies.
'That's the part where many counties are concerned about,' said David Gladkosky, executive director of West Virginia Professional Educators. 'So many counties do not have intervention centers, and if they do, they're staffed by a small number of staff and they only can take in a small number of students.'
Ahead of the session, a group of lawmakers toured Mary C. Snow Elementary in Charleston, where school administrators shared how the implementation of multi-tiered positive behavioral interventions and supports significantly reduced out-of-school suspensions. The school also has a behavioral intervention room.
Mary C. Snow Principal Destiny Spencer told lawmakers that addressing student behavior requires funding.
'I do believe that every school, or at least every school that has a lot of behavioral issues, could try to implement having a behavior interventionist and start there,' she told lawmakers Feb. 11.
The legislation mandates that student discipline cannot conflict with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and students who are removed from school must be evaluated for a possible disability that could be the root of the behavioral issues.
Lindsey McIntosh, an attorney for Kanawha County Schools, raised concerns that the bill as written could violate the rights of students with disabilities if they're removed from school due to a behavior before that disability is diagnosed.The bill is advancing the House Education Committee, where it will next go through a markup phase in the House's new committee process.
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