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Rep. KIRSH moved to recommit the Bill to Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. CATO moved to table the motion, which was agreed to.

The Bill was read the second time and ordered to third reading.

The following Bill was taken up.

H. 4414 -- Reps. Phillips, Allison, Waites, Rudnick, J. Wilder, Jaskwhich, Walker, Corning, Rogers, Stuart, Waldrop and Gamble: A BILL TO ENACT THE "SCHOOLHOUSE SAFETY ALLIANCE ACT OF 1994" TO ATTACK THE PROBLEMS OF JUVENILE CRIME AND SCHOOL SAFETY INCLUDING PROVISIONS TO AMEND TITLE 59 OF THE 1976 CODE RELATING TO EDUCATION BY ADDING CHAPTER 143 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR TRAINING OF SCHOOL FACULTY AND STAFF TO PREVENT STUDENT VIOLENCE, TO INSTITUTE IN EACH SCHOOL CASE MANAGEMENT TEAMS TO WORK AS UNITS ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS DISPLAYING SIGNS OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR, TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO COLLECT DATA IDENTIFYING THE BEST PRACTICES IN DEALING WITH PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH STUDENT VIOLENCE, TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PILOT TEST A CLUSTER SCHOOL CONCEPT IN URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS IN HIGH CRIME AREAS, TOGETHER WITH A SPECIALIZED PROGRAM OF INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION, TO ESTABLISH AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE COMPOSED OF VARIOUS AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES CONVENED BY THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION TO PROVIDE TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO CLUSTER SCHOOLS SERVING AS DEMONSTRATION SITES, TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE SCHOOLHOUSE SAFETY RESOURCE CENTER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING TO SCHOOLS REGARDING SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND STRATEGIES FOR COLLABORATING WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND THE COURTS TO PREVENT THIS

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking subsection (B) of SECTION 2 and inserting:

/(B) The centerpiece proposal in the judicial response area referred to in subsection (A) involves the establishment of a `boot camp' approach for confined juveniles as an intermediate sanction for nonviolent offenders. This is designed to provide a short-term intensive intervention program for nonviolent juvenile offenders in a disciplined and controlled setting. The objectives of the boot camp program are to:

(1) protect the public;

(2) provide an intense correctional experience in a strict disciplined and controlled setting emphasizing an environment of work, physical training, and personal development programs to begin a process of change in juveniles attitudes and behaviors;

(3) provide effective post-release community supervision, reinforcing lifestyle changes, and redirecting the juveniles to law abiding, productive lives;

(4) provide restitution to the citizens of this State by means of community service work performed by the juveniles;

(5) build on previous success by incorporating the successful elements of existing programs such as community service, community supervision, and other positive alternatives;

(6) provide flexibility to adapt to the changing characteristics of juvenile offenders; and

(7) provide cost effectiveness through usage of community-based juvenile offender facilities that are less costly than traditional correctional facilities and by serving more juvenile offenders each year because of the shorter period of confinement./

Amend the bill further, as and if amended, by striking Article 1, Chapter 143 of Title 59 of the 1976 Code, as contained in SECTION 3 and inserting:

/

Section 59-143-100. A statewide Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center at the State Department of Education is established in the manner the General Assembly shall provide in the annual general appropriations act. The center's mission, in cooperation with the Southern Region Violence and Substance Abuse Center, is to provide technical assistance and training to all schools regarding violence prevention and intervention, strategies for

Section 59-143-110. The State Department of Education through the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center, in cooperation with the Southern Region Violence and Substance Abuse Center, shall establish by December 1, 1994, an evaluation procedure which includes the collection of data before the implementation of the programs provided for in Sections 59-143-130 and 59-143-140 so that the effects of the programs can be determined. The Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center shall work with the School Violence Prevention Advisory Committee provided for in Section 59-143-130 in determining the data collection procedure and the components of the external evaluation. The department shall conduct an external evaluation, to be completed by December 1, 1996, with an interim report of findings by June 1, 1995, consisting of identifying:

(1) the best practices for addressing the problems associated with student violence together with documented evidence of best practices as contained in appropriate literature and research;

(2) the best practices for addressing student violence in traditional school programs in this State including alternatives to suspension and expulsion; and

(3) effective initiatives in prevention and intervention including truancy prevention and a review of the Education Improvement Act attendance requirements.

Section 59-143-120. Based on the findings of the evaluation provided for in Section 59-143-110, the State Department of Education, through the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center shall provide statewide school administrator training in the best practices for addressing student violence. The State Department of Education shall develop or select professional programs for faculty and designated staff of all schools to be trained in appropriate techniques, practices, and behavior to prevent student violence. Nonviolent problem solving curricula must be used in the professional development of the faculty and staff within a school to be applied in areas including, but not limited to:

(1) more effective adult interactions with students;

(2) adult modeling of nonviolent behaviors when problems erupt;

(4) differentiation between acceptable student behavior and unacceptable behavior.

In implementing the provisions of this section, equal emphasis shall be placed in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Section 59-143-130. The State Department of Education, in cooperation with the Southern Region Violence and Substance Abuse Center, with the consent of the board of trustees of the applicable school districts, shall pilot different approaches to avoiding student violence by identifying cluster schools in urban and rural settings in high crime areas to serve as model projects for the prevention of school violence. Each cluster school must implement a specialized method of intervention or prevention in an intense three-year pilot project. An external evaluation of the process shall be conducted at the end of the third year of each pilot program by the State Department of Education through the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center. A School Violence Prevention Advisory Committee consisting of service agency provider representatives including, but not limited to, representatives from the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Mental Retardation, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Social Services, the family court system, the Department of Health and Environmental Control, the Southern Region Violence and Substance Abuse Center, the State Department of Education, and local law enforcement officials, shall be convened by the State Law Enforcement Division. The committee, in conjunction with local schools boards of trustees, shall select the cluster schools to serve as pilot sites and shall work with each site to identify the approach to be implemented. The committee also shall assist in providing training and technical assistance to the cluster schools and shall monitor the progress of the programs on a regular basis during the three-year pilot period. Innovative techniques piloted may include peer mediation programs, school-within-a-school, intense volunteer mentoring, family focus groups, and other approaches that provide school outreach into neighborhoods. These pilot projects shall strive to make communities mirrors of safe schools rather than schools mirroring the violence in society.

Section 59-143-140. Each school district of this State shall institute in every school case management teams. The teams should consist of teachers, school administrators, parents, counselors, and representatives of health and social service agencies to work as units on behalf of students

Section 59-143-150. Based on format recommendations from the School Violence Prevention Advisory Committee as established in Section 59-143-130, a cooperating team consisting of representatives of all local health and human service agencies in a county, including representatives from all school districts located within the county, shall be convened by the sheriff's office in each county to coordinate services designed to prevent school violence. In addition, the cooperating team shall develop a service coordination matrix. The service coordination matrix must outline services provided by agencies in response to risk factors identified by the committee. The sheriff's office in each county will submit a copy of the service coordination matrix, once completed, to the School Violence Prevention Advisory Committee.

Section 59-143-160. In conjunction with the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the Southern Region Violence and Substance Abuse Center, the State Department of Education shall develop conflict resolution strategies to be taught to juveniles and young adults sentenced as youthful offenders in correctional facilities. These conflict resolution strategies also shall be offered as training programs to other public and private organizations for their use./

Amend the bill further, as and if amended, by striking Section 59-143-310 of the 1976 Code, as contained in SECTION 3 and inserting:

/ Section 59-143-310. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations requiring the parenting, family literacy, and parental involvement programs mandated by the Early Childhood Development and Academic Assistance Act to include instruction in nonviolent living skills./

Amend the bill further, as and if amended, by striking SECTION 4 of the bill and inserting:

/SECTION 4. (A) Section 20-7-3210 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:

"Section 20-7-3210. The department shall provide such community services as the director shall assign to it which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(b) serving, advising and counseling children placed on probation by the Family Court;

(c) serving, advising and counseling of children in the various institutions as may be necessary to the placement of the children in proper environment after release and the placement of children in suitable jobs where necessary and proper;

(d) supervising and guiding of children released or conditionally released from institutions;

(e) counseling children released or conditionally released by the parole board;

(f) coordinating the activities of supporting community agencies which aid in the social adjustment of children released by the parole board;

(g) providing or arranging for necessary services leading to the rehabilitation of delinquents either within the department or through cooperative arrangements with other appropriate agencies;

(h) providing counseling and supervision for any child under twelve years of age who has been adjudicated delinquent, convicted of a crime or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, when other suitable personnel is not available and upon request of the court concerned;

(i) providing detention screening services when a child is taken into custody for violation of a law or ordinance as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of Section 20-7-600;

(j) providing prevention services to include short and long range planning, establishing statewide priorities and standards, development of public awareness programs, and technical assistance to local government in the development of prevention programs;

(k) providing for the development of secure and nonsecure alternatives to jail;

(l) providing for a variety of community-based programs to augment regular probation services, such as volunteer services, restitution, community work programs, family counseling and contract probation with specific sanctions for various types of behavior;

(m) providing for a variety of community-based programs to serve as alternatives or intermediate sanctions into which juveniles committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice may be transferred to institutions, such as halfway houses, work release, intensive probation, restitution, forestry and wilderness camps, residential boot camp programs, marine science programs, and other residential and nonresidential programs;

(n) providing for programs to divert juveniles, where proper and appropriate, from the juvenile justice system."

"Section 20-7-3215.(A) The Department of Juvenile Justice shall establish a self-contained residential boot camp program for juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed to the department. The boot camp program shall be sixty days in duration and shall provide to the juveniles a highly structured and disciplined setting, a program of physical activity, work, and drill which emphasizes rehabilitation, education, self-sufficiency, and personal development of the juveniles and positive active intervention and interaction between the staff and juveniles.

(B) Juveniles adjudicated delinquent for nonviolent criminal acts which occur in or around school property shall be given priority consideration for transfer into the department's boot camp program. Juveniles adjudicated delinquent for violating Section 16-23-430 who are otherwise eligible to be transferred into this program shall be committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice and shall serve sixty days in the department's boot camp program. In addition, to be eligible to be transferred to the boot camp program, juveniles committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice must:

(1) be between the ages of twelve and seventeen years at the time of commitment;

(2) have been adjudicated for a nonviolent crime or burglary in the first or second degree;

(3) have a minimum parole guideline of twelve months or less;

(4) not have been transferred on a previous commitment to the boot camp program or a similar program;

(5) be physically and mentally able to participate in the program; and

(6) not have been specifically excluded from participating in the boot camp program by the family court at the time of commitment.

(C) A juvenile may be transferred to the Department of Juvenile Justice's Boot Camp Program either at the time of commitment or at any time prior to the juvenile reaching his minimum parole guidelines.

(D) The Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice shall transfer juveniles to this program based upon the recommendation of a Boot Camp Screening Committee which shall utilize a risk classification instrument in making its recommendations to the director. Juveniles who successfully complete this sixty-day program must be granted a conditional release from their commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice. Juveniles who fail to successfully complete this program shall be transferred, consistent with due process, to a secure correctional facility operated by the department.

(F) Transfer to the Boot Camp Program is a privilege and shall be on a space available basis. A juvenile has no right to participate in such a program or to continue to participate in such a program if his behavior is inappropriate.

(C) The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-1351. In addition to the jurisdiction of the family court as provided in Article 5 of this chapter, the family court has jurisdiction to order parents of children identified as in need of services or counseling to prevent violent behavior to appear before it, and upon finding that the child's behavior can be changed, the court may order an assessment of the family or family participation in treatment or services to improve the behavior. Parent may be held in contempt of court for failure to comply with the provisions of this section. Parents may be ordered by the family court to participate in family counseling or in other programs or services. The court may hold a parent in contempt and fine or otherwise sanction a parent for failure to comply. However, a contempt citation applied against an individual family member shall be applied only as a last resort, can only be applied if based upon noncompliance or noncooperation with the treatment, rehabilitative, or supervision services required by the court and then only until compliance with these requirements is obtained. Parents also may be referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Mental Health, the Continuum of Care for Emotionally Disturbed Children, the Department of Social Services, or to any recognized volunteer organization as appropriate, for family assessment, counseling, and service."

(D) The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-1352. The requirement of acceptable school attendance and appropriate behavior must be an integral part of all probation orders."

(E) The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-1353. Probation and parole counselors are required to assist in the re-enrollment of all their clients who are children in the public schools upon the children's release from confinement facilities, and to bring all instances of a school's refusal to reenroll or enroll a child to the attention of the State Department of Education and the appropriate local advocacy group for children."/

Amend title to conform.

Rep. PHILLIPS explained the amendment.

The amendment was then adopted.

Rep. FAIR proposed the following Amendment No. 2 (Doc Name L:\council\legis\amend\GJK\20372SD.94), which was adopted.

Amend the report of the Committee on Education and Public Works, as and if amended, by striking Section 59-143-120 of the 1976 Code which begins on line 10, page 4414-3, and inserting:

/Section 59-143-120. Based on the findings of the evaluation provided for in Section 59-143-110, the State Department of Education, through the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center shall provide statewide school administrator training in the best practices for addressing student violence. The State Department of Education shall develop or select professional programs for faculty and designated staff of all schools to be trained in appropriate techniques, practices, and behavior to prevent student violence. Nonviolent problem solving curricula must be used in the professional development of the faculty and staff within a school to be applied in areas including, but not limited to:

(1) more effective adult interactions with students;

(2) adult modeling of nonviolent behaviors when problems erupt;

(3) expansion of wellness components in the comprehensive health curriculum promoting nonviolent living skills as they apply to other appropriate school violence prevention approaches; and

(4) differentiation between acceptable student behavior and unacceptable behavior as it applies to the determination of students entering case management.

In implementing the provisions of this section, equal emphasis shall be placed in elementary, middle, and high schools./

Amend the report further, as and if amended, in Section 59-143-130 of the 1976 Code, which begins on line 30, page 4414-3, by inserting immediately before the last sentence:

/Peer mediators must have parental permission to participate in the peer mediation program./

Amend title to conform.

Rep. FAIR explained the amendment.

The amendment was then adopted.

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