Bill seeks to force schools to deal with disruptive pupils

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, has introduced legislation he says is designed for force schools to follow existing laws dealing with disruptive students.

"The discipline legislation we passed in the last few sessions is not being adhered to," said Williams, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. "With this bill, maybe they'll start to listen."

Existing law requires that the principal and teachers at Nevada schools adopt a "plan to provide for the progressive discipline of pupils and on-site review of disciplinary actions."

AB218 would require that the principal's salary be cut off if that plan isn't adopted and then updated each year by Oct. 1 and not started up again until the plan is adopted.

Only if a majority of the teachers at the school agree can the principal get up to 30 days more time to finish the discipline plan without losing part of his pay check.

Williams said too many times, students get away with repeated disciplinary violations and only minimal punishment. He said they have received stories about teachers taking a student to the principal's office for discipline "and the kids beat them back to the classroom."

"It's a huge problem," he said.

He said the idea isn't to fine principals part of their pay.

"The main thing is we want them to comply with the law," he said. "There are at least 12 disciplinary statute bills that are not being adhered to."

AB218 was referred to the Education Committee for study.