BOONE COUNTY, Ky. — A Kentucky bill that would give local school boards more discretion in disciplinary action against students is moving forward in the state legislature.
HB 538, or the School Discipline Bill, would require a board of education to expel a student for at least 12 months if they make threats against other students or staff.
The bill has bipartisan backing with 28 sponsors as of Friday. One of them is Republican state Rep. Steve Rawlings, a Burlington native who serves Boone County.
Rawlings said he jumped on board after hearing concerns from Boone County parents over a student who was allowed back into school after he was expelled for making a kill list the year prior. The Conner High School freshman was back in the classroom in January after allegedly making threats against several students when all were still in the 8th grade.
In November 2021, a school resource officer found a notebook belonging to the student in which he threatened to shoot and kill certain peers — including the school principal's son.
The student was charged with second-degree terroristic threatening at the time.
"Conner really highlighted it, but these things are going on in the schools," Rawlings said. "There's so many examples of it."
Conner High School parents repeatedly pushed back against the board's decision. An online petition to remove the student racked up close to 600 signatures.
Some parents even pulled their kids out of school.
At the start of February, the student was removed and placed into an "alternative learning environment."
In a statement sent to WCPO last month, Superintendent Matthew Turner said the initial decision to allow the student back following a one-year expulsion wasn't ultimately his to make. He stated Kentucky education law "...guarantees the right to a public education for every child without prejudice, and we are obligated to follow state law."
Current state statute says local school boards must adopt policies that students who make threats against the safety of other students or staff have to be expelled for no less than one year.
Suspension and expulsion policies are fairly standard across the state, regardless of the type of offense committed by students.
Boone County parents like Jim Kruspe feel that's wrong. He said if guidelines were stricter, the student wouldn't have been allowed back in the first place, avoiding unnecessary tension.
"The status quo's not working," Kruspe said.
Rawlings agrees. That's why he's not only sponsored change in the form of HB 538, but also pitched in a few amendments of his own.
"The bill gives more discretion to the board, to supervisors and especially to teachers," Rawlings said.
In addition to amending current wording from "no less than one year" to "at least 12 months," it would allow local school boards to put students who threaten other students or staff into alternative learning settings, including virtual, in lieu of expulsion or immediately after. It would even allow teachers to remove disruptive students from the classroom.
"It gives more latitude to the schools, they can deal with it better," Rawlings said.
The bill also includes a provision that would require a local board to adopt a policy requiring disciplinary actions for a student who assaults other students or staff off campus property.
"Finally now we have something that's going to hopefully change that status quo," Kruspe said.
Filed on Feb. 23, the bill has moved swiftly. It passed out of the Education Committee on Tuesday with a vote of 17-4 and was heard on the House floor Friday morning, where it passed with a vote of 87-6.
The bill now heads to the state Senate.
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