Chapter 6: PROCEDURES FOR TAKING ACTION ON SUBSTANTIATED INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIORS

Section 2. Guidelines for Specific Responses to Inappropriate Behavior

Suspension: The purpose of suspension is to protect the student body, school personnel and property, the educational environment, and the orderly process of the school. Suspension is considered a temporary solution to inappropriate behavior until the problem that caused the suspension is corrected. The length of a suspension should be short, usually one to three school days, but may extend to ten school days.

Chapter 2 INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR AND MEANINGFUL INTERVENTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES Section 4. Use of Physical Punishment Prohibited W. Va. Code § 18A-5-1(e) prohibits school employees from using corporal (bodily) punishment on any student. No physical punishment of any kind can be inflicted upon a student. This includes: . hitting or striking a student on their physical person; . requiring physical activity as a punishment (this does not apply to physical activity within the structure and context of extracurricular activities);

. use of noxious stimuli (e.g., pepper spray), denial of food or water, or other negative physical actions to control behavior; and

. seclusion - a removal in which a student is left unsupervised in any space as an intervention or consequence to inappropriate behavior.

(e)  Corporal punishment of any student by a school employee is prohibited.

(a) Within the limitations provided in this section, any aide who agrees to do so shall stand in the place of the parent or guardian and shall exercise such authority and control over students as is required of a teacher as provided in section one [§ 18A-5-1] of this article. The principal shall designate aides in the school who agree to exercise that authority on the basis of seniority as an aide and shall enumerate the instances in which the authority shall be exercised by an aide when requested by the principal, assistant principal or professional employee to whom the aide is assigned. (b) The authority provided for in subsection (a) of this section does not extend to suspending or expelling any student, participating in the administration of corporal punishment or performing instructional duties as a teacher or substitute teacher. However, the authority extends to supervising students undergoing in-school suspension if the instructional duties required by the supervision are limited solely to handing out class work and collecting class work. The authority to supervise students undergoing in-school suspension does not include actual instruction.