I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 977

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide increased

authority for school personnel to discipline children with disabilities who

engage in certain dangerous behavior.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 13, 2001

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

to provide increased authority for school personnel to

discipline children with disabilities who engage in certain

dangerous behavior.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Classroom Safety Act

5 of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL2 ITIES EDUCATION ACT.

3 (a) PLACEMENT IN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL

4 SETTING.—Section 615(k) of the Individuals with Disabil5 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)) is amended—

6 (1) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para7 graph (11); and

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(10) DISCIPLINE WITH REGARD TO WEAP11 ONS.—

12 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY OF SCHOOL PER13 SONNEL.—Notwithstanding any other provision

14 of this Act, school personnel may discipline (in15 cluding expel or suspend) a child with a dis16 ability who—

17 ‘‘(i) carries or possesses a weapon to

18 or at a school, on school premises, or to or

19 at a school function, under the jurisdiction

20 of a State or a local educational agency, or

21 ‘‘(ii) possesses or uses illegal drugs, or

22 sells or solicits the sale of a controlled sub23 stance while at a school, on school prem24 ises, or to or at a school function, under

25 the jurisdiction of a State or a local edu26 cational agency,
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1 in the same manner in which such personnel

2 may discipline a child without a disability. Such

3 personnel may modify the disciplinary action on

4 a case-by-case basis.

5 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing

6 in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to pre7 vent a child with a disability who is disciplined

8 pursuant to the authority provided under sub9 paragraph (A) from asserting a defense that

10 the carrying or possession of the weapon, or the

11 possession of an illegal drug or sale or solicita12 tion of the sale of a controlled substance, was

13 unintentional or innocent.

14 ‘‘(C) FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDU15 CATION.—

16 ‘‘(i) CEASING TO PROVIDE EDU17 CATION.—Notwithstanding section

18 612(a)(1)(A), a child expelled or suspended

19 under subparagraph (A) shall not be enti20 tled to continue educational services, in21 cluding a free appropriate public edu22 cation, under this title, during the term of

23 such expulsion or suspension, if the State

24 in which the local educational agency re25 sponsible for providing educational services
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1 to such child does not require a child with2 out a disability to receive educational serv3 ices after being expelled or suspended.

4 ‘‘(ii) PROVIDING EDUCATION.—Not5 withstanding clause (i), the local edu6 cational agency responsible for providing

7 educational services to a child with a dis8 ability who is expelled or suspended under

9 subparagraph (A) may choose to continue

10 to provide educational services to such

11 child. If the local educational agency so

12 chooses to continue to provide the

13 services—

14 ‘‘(I) nothing in this title shall re15 quire the local educational agency to

16 provide such child with a free appro17 priate public education, or any par18 ticular level of service; and

19 ‘‘(II) the location where the local

20 educational agency provides the serv21 ices shall be left to the discretion of

22 the local educational agency.

23 ‘‘(D) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER REQUIRE24 MENTS.—
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1 ‘‘(i) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—No agen2 cy shall be considered to be in violation of

3 section 612 or 613 because the agency has

4 provided discipline, services, or assistance

5 in accordance with this paragraph.

6 ‘‘(ii) PROCEDURE.—Actions taken

7 pursuant to this paragraph shall not be

8 subject to the provisions of this section,

9 other than this paragraph.’’.

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section

11 615(f)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education

12 Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(f)(1)) is amended by striking

13 ‘‘Whenever’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘Except as pro14 vided in section 615(k)(10), whenever’’.

15 (2) Section 615(k)(1)(A)(ii) of the Individuals with

16 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(A)(ii))

17 is amended in the matter preceding subclause (I) by in18 serting before ‘‘to an appropriate interim educational set19 ting’’ the following: ‘‘except as provided in paragraph

20 (10),’’.

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