The Department of Education shall annually collect from each school board and publish on its website data on alternative education programs for students who have been suspended, expelled, or otherwise precluded from attendance at school. Such data shall (i) be published in a manner that protects the identities of individual students; (ii) be disaggregated by local school division and by student race, ethnicity, gender, and disability; and (iii) include:

• 1. The number of students enrolled in alternative education programs pursuant to each of the five clauses set forth in subsection A of § 22.1-277.2:1;
• 2. The number of students enrolled in alternative education programs who have received (i) a short-term suspension, (ii) a long-term suspension, or (iii) an expulsion;
• 3. The current availability of various categories of alternative education programs available to all students and not solely special education students, including full-day programs with on-site, in-school teacher instruction; full-day programs with off-site, out-of-school teacher instruction; primarily virtual instruction; home-based or home-bound instruction; partial-day instruction; and any other category that the Department of Education may identify;
• 4. The average length of enrollment in an alternative education program per program during each school year;
• 5. The number of students who transition within the same school year from an alternative education program back into the school at which they were enrolled immediately preceding enrollment in the alternative education program; and
• 6. Relevant student achievement data, as determined by the Department of Education.

A. The Board of Education shall establish guidelines and develop model policies for codes of student conduct to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The guidelines and model policies shall include (i) criteria for the removal of a student from a class, the use of suspension, expulsion, and exclusion as disciplinary measures, the grounds for suspension and expulsion and exclusion, and the procedures to be followed in such cases, including proceedings for such suspension, expulsion, and exclusion decisions and all applicable appeals processes; (ii) Standard, consistent with state, federal and case laws, for school board policies on alcohol and drugs, gang-related activity, hazing, vandalism, trespassing, threats, search and seizure, disciplining of students with disabilities, intentional injury of others, self-defense, bullying, the use of electronic means for purposes of bullying, harassment, and intimidation, and dissemination of such policies to students, their parents, and school personnel; (iii) Standard for in-service training of school personnel in and examples of the appropriate management of student conduct and student offenses in violation of school board policies; (iv) Standard for dress or grooming codes; and (v) Standard for reducing bias and harassment in the enforcement of any code of student conduct.

This document addresses strategies to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities in student discipline