Section 9532 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandates that every
local education agency (LEA) shall approve a policy to implement the Unsafe
School Choice Policy. Section 9532 is attached as Appendix A to this
policy.
The Grundy County Department of Education shall provide any student who
attends a persistently dangerous school, or any student who has been the
victim of a violent crime while at school, the opportunity to attend a safe
school.
Section 1: Persistently Dangerous Schools
Any public elementary or secondary school, with the exception of a
school established specifically for serving suspended or expelled students
or students with behavioral disabilities, shall be considered persistently
dangerous if it meets the following criteria for three consecutive years:
1. Has violence-related disciplinary actins as reported on the Annual
Report of Zero Tolerance Offenses. Violence-related disciplinary
actions shall be defined as any of the following: possession/use of a
firearm, battery of a teacher or school employee (including a school
resource officer assigned to the school), and possession/use of a weapon
other than a firearm (a more detailed description of each of these offenses
is provided in Section 3 of this policy); or
2. Has students who have been the victim of a violent crime at school
as defined in Section 2 of this policy; and,
3. The sum of violence-related disciplinary actions and/or incidents
of student victimization indentified in criteria #1 and criteria #2 above
are equal to or greater than 3% of the school's average daily membership.
Required Actions
Year 1: Any school meeting the criteria identified above shall
receive notification from the Tennessee Department of Education. The
district shall direct available federal and state resources to the school to
identify problems and implement corrective action.
Year 2: Any school meeting the criteria for the secondary consecutive year
shall evaluate its current school safety practices and submit a corrective
action plan to the Tennessee Department of Education.
Year 3: Any school meeting the criteria identifies above for three
consecutive years shall be designated by the Tennessee Department of
Education as a persistently dangerous school. Within 30 days of
receiving notice of the designation the director of schools shall:
1) Notify the parents or guardians of all students
attending the school that the school has been designated by the Tennessee
Department of Education as a persistently dangerous school and provide for
all students to be given safe school choice as provided for under the No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
2) Submit a corrective action plan to the Commissioner
of Education outlining the specific actions and timetable that the school
will follow to insure the safety of students and faculty.
Right to Appeal
A school designated as a persistently dangerous school shall have the
right to appeal the designation. The appeal must be submitted by the
director of schools to the Commissioner of Education within 15 calendar days
of being notified of the persistently dangerous designation and must present
clear evidence that the school provides a safe and disciplined learning
environment for all students. A committee of practitioners appointed
by the Commissioner of Education shall review the appeal within 15 calendar
days.
Removal of Designation
Upon implementation of the approved corrective action plan and the
completion of one school year with a level of dangerous incidents below the
criteria established above, a school shall no longer be considered
persistently dangerous.
Section 2: Victim of a Violent Crime at School
A student shall be considered the victim of a violent crime at
school when the following criteria are met:
1. Evidence
is found to reasonably indicate that the student has been the victim of any
of the applicable offences identified in TCA 40-38-111 (g) or the attempt to
commit one of the applicable offenses as defined under TCA 39-12-101; and,
2. The
offense occurred while the student was attending school or traveling to or
from school on a school bus.
Required Actions
1. The building administrator or a designated representative of
a school where an alleged incident of a student violent crime victimization
has occurred shall immediately report the incident to the appropriate law
enforcement agency.
2. Promptly following an investigation by appropriate law
enforcement personnel, the building administrator or a designated
representative shall determine whether or not reasonable evidence exists to
indicate that a student has been the victim of a violent crime.
Identification of a perpetrator and/or the filing of criminal charges shall
not be considered a prerequisite for determining that a student ha been
victimized.
3. Upon determination that a student has been victimized, and
within ten school days of the event, the director of schools shall offer the
student and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) safe school choice.
4. The building administrator or a designated representative
shall file a report with the Tennessee Department of Education as requested
by the Commissioner.
Parental Notification
Every public school shall annually notify parents that if their child
is the victim of a violent crime at school, the child ha the right to attend
another grade-appropriate
public school in the district.
Section 3: Definitions
For the purposes of this policy,
the following definitions shall apply:
Safe School Choice:
The student and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) are provided an opportunity
to transfer to another school within the local education agency (LEA) that
is safe for the student. To the
extent possible, the LEA shall allow transferring students to transfer to a
school that is making adequate yearly progress and has not been identified
as being in school improvement, corrective action or restructuring. The LEA
is encouraged to take into account the needs and preferences of the affected
students and parents. The LEA
shall assume necessary transportation costs associated with the student
attending a safe school. An LEA
with only one school at a particular grade level may choose to facilitate a
transfer to a school in another school district; however, such transfer
shall not be required.
Violence-related
disciplinary actions;
A violence-related disciplinary action is one taken for any of the following
offenses:
1.
Possession or use of a firearm, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921.
2.
Battery of a teacher or school employee (including a school resource officer
assigned to the school). For purposes of this policy, battery is defined as
intentional or reckless physical contact with a person without his or her
consent that causes bodily injury.
3.
Possession or use of a weapon other than a firearm (as defined in TCA
39-17-1309).
Violent Crime;
Any of the following applicable offenses as identified and defined in T.C.A.
40-38-111 (g): Aggravated arson, Aggravated assault, Aggravated child abuse
and neglect, Aggravated kidnapping, Aggravated rape, Aggravated sexual
battery, Aggravated spousal rape, Spousal rape and spousal sexual battery,
Aggravated vehicular homicide, Carjacking, Criminally negligent homicide,
Especially aggravated kidnapping, Especially aggravated robbery, First
degree murder, Incest, Kidnapping, Rape, Rape of a child, Reckless homicide,
Second degree murder, Sexual battery by an authority figure, Sexual battery,
Stalking, Statutory rape, Vehicular assault, Voluntary manslaughter.