The Florida Senate

232.271  Removal by teacher.--

(1)  A teacher may send a student to the principal's office to maintain effective discipline in the classroom. The principal shall respond by employing appropriate discipline-management techniques consistent with the student code of conduct under s. 230.23.

(2)  A teacher may remove from class a student:

(a)  Who has been documented by the teacher to repeatedly interfere with the teacher's ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student's classmates to learn; or

(b)  Whose behavior the teacher determines is so unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it seriously interferes with the teacher's ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student's classmates to learn.

(3)  If a teacher removes a student from class under subsection (2), the principal may place the student in another appropriate classroom, in in-school suspension, or in a dropout prevention and academic intervention program as provided by s. 230.2316; or the principal may recommend the student for out-of-school suspension or expulsion, as appropriate. The student may be prohibited from attending or participating in school-sponsored or school-related activities. The principal may not return the student to that teacher's class without the teacher's consent unless the committee established under s. 232.272 determines that such placement is the best or only available alternative. The teacher and the placement review committee must render decisions within 5 days of the removal of the student from the classroom.

(4)  Any teacher who removes 25 percent of his or her total class enrollment shall be required to complete professional development to improve classroom management skills.

(5)  The department shall conduct a study on the number of students who are expelled from classrooms, placement alternatives for students who are expelled, and the number of decisions by teachers that are overridden by the placement review committee. A preliminary report to the Legislature shall be submitted no later than March 1, 1997. A final report shall be submitted to the Legislature by September 1, 1997.

History.--s. 5, ch. 96-246; s. 18, ch. 96-369; s. 33, ch. 97-190; s. 71, ch. 99-398.