An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Legislative Youth Advisory Council with Respect to Educational and Organizational Matters
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 2131
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Amends: 3 MRSA §168-A

Legislative Document 
No. 2131 
H.P.151O 
House of Representatives, January 7,2008 
An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Legislative 
Youth Advisory Council with Respect to Educational and 
Organizational Matters 
Reported by Representative MUSE of Fryeburg for the Legislative Youth Advisory 
Council pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 3, section 168-A. 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed under Joint Rule 218. 
Printed on n:cycled papt'r 
l11~m.7!!O£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLA~1) 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 3 MRSA §168-A, sub-§l,~, as amended by PL 2003, c. 20, Pt. F, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
D. 
Meet at least 3 times but not more than 6 times per year, including not more than 
public hearings on issues of importance to youth, except that the council may meet 
more than 6 times per year, at times and at locations of its choice, if those additional 
meetings are funded entirely from outside funding sources approved by the 
Legislative Council under subsection 11; and 
Sec. 2. 3 MRS A §168-A, sub-§l, ~, as amended by PL 2005, c. 616, Pt. B, § 1, 
lOis further amended to read: 
E. 
Report biennially to the Legislative Council on its activities by December 1st 
preceding each second regl:llar session of the Legislature the first business day in 
February of each even-numbered year. The council may submit proposed legislation 
as part of its report to the Legislative Council to implement its recommendations. 
Sec. 3. 20-A MRS A §100l, sub-§15, as amended by PL 2005, c. 307, §§ 1 to 3, 
is further amended to read: 
15. 
Adoption of student code of conduct. 
With input from educators, 
administrators, parents, students and community members, they shall adopt a district 
wffie districtwide student code of conduct consistent with the statewide standards for 
student behavior developed under section 254, subsection 11. 
The student code of 
conduct must: 
A. 
Define unacceptable student behavior; 
B. 
Establish standards of student responsibility for behavior; 
C. 
Prescribe consequences for violation of the student code of conduct, including 
first-time violations, when appropriate; 
D. 
Describe appropriate procedures for referring students in need of special services 
to those services; 
E. 
Establish criteria to determine when further assessment of a current individual 
education plan is necessary, based on removal of the student from class; 
F. 
Establish policies and procedures concerning the removal of disruptive or violent 
students or students threatening death or bodily harm to others from a classroom or a 
school bus, as well as student disciplinary and placement decisions, when 
appropriate; 
G. 
Establish guidelines and criteria concerning the appropriate circumstances when 
the superintendent or the superintendent's designee may provide information to the 
local police or other appropriate law enforcement authorities regarding an offense 
, 
that involves violence committed by any person on school grounds or other school 
property: and 
Page I - 123LR3397(Ol)-1 
II 
H. 
Establish policies and procedures to address bUllying. harassment and sexual 
harassment. 
A student code of conduct may include provisions allowing for the use of a districtwide 
cocurricular honor contract. 
The school board is responsible for ensuring that school officials inform students, parents 
and community members of the student code of conduct. 
Sec. 4. Minimum standards for cocurricular honor contracts; rules. ]n 
consultation with the State Board of Education, school administrators, teachers and 
parents and other interested local officials and community members, the Commissioner of 
Education shall, by January 1, 2009, adopt rules establishing minimum standards for 
cocurricular honor contracts, which may be adopted by school boards under the 
provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 100 I, subsection 15. Those 
minimum standards must include. but are not limited to, specifying the types of behavior 
that must be covered by such contracts, the extent to which the contracts may cover 
behavior of students while off school grounds and not engaged in school-sponsored 
activities, the standards to be used by the school to determine whether a student has 
violated the cocurricular contract and standards ensuring that cocurricular honor 
contracts. if adopted by a school board, be enforced consistently and fairly among all 
students. 
Rules adopted under this section are major substantive rules under the 
provisions of Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows the Legislative Youth Advisory Council to meet more than 6 times 
per year if those additional meetings are funded by outside funding sources approved by 
the Legislative Council and extends the biennial reporting date of the Legislative Youth 
Advisory Council from December I st in each odd-numbered year to the first business day 
in February in each even-numbered year. 
The bill also amends the law governing the duties of school boards to allow, but not 
require. a school board to include a cocurricular honor contract as part of its districtwide 
code of conduct. The bill also directs the Commissioner of Education to adopt major 
substantive rules governing the minimum standards for cocurricular honor contracts if a 
school board chooses to include a cocurricular honor contract as part of the district's code 
of conduct. 
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