(z) The State Board of Education by rule shall require each school district to incorporate instruction in digital citizenship into the district’s curriculum, including information regarding the potential criminal consequences of cyberbullying. In this subsection: (1) “Cyberbullying” has the meaning assigned by Section 37.0832. (2) “Digital citizenship” means the Standard of appropriate, responsible, and healthy online behavior, including the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on all forms of digital communication.

(a) The board of trustees of an independent school district shall, with the advice of its district-level committee established under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a student code of conduct for the district. The student code of conduct must be posted and prominently displayed at each school campus or made available for review at the office of the campus principal. In addition to establishing Standard for student conduct, the student code of conduct must:

• (1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom, campus, disciplinary alternative education program, or vehicle owned or operated by the district;
• (2) specify conditions that authorize or require a principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student to a disciplinary alternative education program;
• (3) outline conditions under which a student may be suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by Section 37.007;
• (4) specify that consideration will be given, as a factor in each decision concerning suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, expulsion, or placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program, regardless of whether the decision concerns a mandatory or discretionary action, to:
• (A) self-defense;
• (B) intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct;
• (C) a student’s disciplinary history; or
• (D) a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student’s conduct;
• (5) provide guidelines for setting the length of a term of:
• (A) a removal under Section 37.006; and
• (B) an expulsion under Section 37.007;
• (6) address the notification of a student’s parent or guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by the student that results in suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion;
• (7) prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit lists and ensure that district employees enforce those prohibitions;
• (8) provide, as appropriate for students at each grade level, methods, including options, for:
• (A) managing students in the classroom, on school grounds, and on a vehicle owned or operated by the district;
• (B) disciplining students; and
• (C) preventing and intervening in student discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making hit lists;

(a) In this section: (1) “Bullying” has the meaning assigned by Section 37.0832. (2) “Intimate visual material” has the meaning assigned by Section 98B.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code. (b) A student may be removed from class and placed in a disciplinary alternative education program as provided by Section 37.008 or expelled if the student: (1) engages in bullying that encourages a student to commit or attempt to commit suicide; (2) incites violence against a student through group bullying; or (3) releases or threatens to release intimate visual material of a minor or a student who is 18 years of age or older without the student’s consent. (c) Nothing in this section exempts a school from reporting a finding of intimate visual material of a minor.