BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1455
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1455 (Campos) - As Amended: March 17, 2014
SUBJECT : Pupils: bullying: counseling services
SUMMARY : Authorizes the superintendent of a school district,
the principal of a school, or the principal's designee to refer
a victim of, witness to, or other pupil affected by an act of
bullying, committed on or after January 1, 2015, to the school
counselor, school psychologist, social worker, child welfare
attendance personnel, school nurse, or other school support
service personnel for case management, counseling, and
participation in a restorative justice program.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a pupil may be suspended or expelled for
committing any of a number of specified acts, including
engaging in the act of bullying, including, but not limited
to, bullying committed by means of an electronic act.
(Education Code (EC) Section 48900)
2)Defines "bullying" to mean any severe or pervasive physical or
verbal act or conduct, including communications made in
writing or by means of an electronic act, and including one or
more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils as defined
in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or 48900.4, directed toward one
or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have
the effect of one or more of the following:
a) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to
that pupil's or those pupils' person or property.
b) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially
detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.
c) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her academic performance.
d) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her ability to participate in or
benefit from the services, activities, or privileges
provided by a school. (EC Section 48900)
3)Provides that suspension, including supervised suspension,
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shall be imposed only when other means of correction fail to
bring about proper conduct. Provides that other means of
correction include, but are not limited to, any of the
following: student, parent, and teacher conferences; referrals
to support service providers including counselors,
psychologists, social workers, child welfare attendance
personnel, or other school support personnel;
intervention-related teams who assess behavior and address the
behavior; prosocial behavior or anger management programs;
restorative justice programs; positive behavior interventions
and support programs; after school programs that address
specific behavior issues; and community service programs. (EC
Section 48900.5)
4)Establishes the Safe Place to Learn Act and requires the
California Department of Education (CDE) to, as part of its
monitoring and review of local educational agencies (LEAs),
assess whether LEAs have developed policy prohibiting
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based
on specified actual or perceived characteristics. (EC Section
234.1)
5)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to post, and
annually update, on the CDE's Internet Web site and provide to
each school district a list of statewide resources, including
community-based organizations, that provide support to youth
who have been subjected to school-based discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and their families. (EC
Section 234.5)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : Under existing law, a principal or a superintendent
may suspend or recommend expulsion of a pupil for committing any
of a number of specified acts, including bullying and bullying
via an electronic act (cyberbullying). "Bullying" is defined as
any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct,
including communications made in writing or by means of an
electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a
pupil or group of pupils engaging in sexual harassment, hate
violence, harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed toward
one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to
cause fear and have an impact on a student's physical and mental
health, academic performance, or a student's ability to
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participate in school and school activities.
AB 1729 (Ammiano), Chapter 425, Statutes of 2012, requires
schools to impose suspensions only when other means of
correction fail to bring about proper conduct. "Other means of
correction" include, but are not limited to: a conference
between school personnel, parents and a pupil; referrals to
school support service personnel for case management and
counseling; intervention-related teams that implement
individualized plans to address the behavior in partnership with
the pupil and his or her parents; referral for a comprehensive
psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment for purposes of
creating an individualized education program or plan pursuant to
Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
enrollment in a program for teaching prosocial behavior or anger
management; participation in a restorative justice program; a
positive behavior support approach with tiered interventions
that occur during the schoolday; any after-school programs
designed to address specific behavioral issues and expose a
pupil to positive activities and behaviors; and, community
service, including, but not limited to, outdoor beautification,
community or campus betterment and teacher, peer or youth
assistance programs.
This bill authorizes the superintendent of a school district,
the principal or the principal's designee to refer a victim,
witness, or other pupil affected by bullying to the school
counselor, school psychologist, social worker, child welfare
attendance personnel, school nurse, or other school support
service personnel for case management, counseling, and
participation in a restorative justice program.
The author states that existing law is "silent on authorizing
schools to provide counseling services to the victims or
witnesses. Schools would likely want to avoid any potential
liability by providing services not permitted by law."
According to the author, 24 states include mental health and
counseling services in schools for victims and witnesses of
bullying, including Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New
Jersey, Texas and Connecticut.
The Committee may wish to consider the permissive nature of the
Education Code. Superintendents and principals are already
authorized to refer victims of and other pupils affected by
bullying to the types of services specified in this bill.
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Arguments in support . The California School Nurses Association
supports the bill and states, "Bullying is unfortunately a
growing phenomenon within our schools and it has a detrimental
effect on not only the victims but the perpetrators as well.
The sequel of bullying manifests itself in many different ways -
headaches, complaints of various physical ailments as well as
emotional issues that impact their ability to function in school
setting. In a May 2011 article in the journal Pediatrics 'the
school's nurse's office tends to be a haven for students who
have been bullied, and for those who bully. The study's authors
found that both groups of children tend to come to the school
nurse more often than other students for illnesses and injuries,
and complaints without clear medical cause, such as
stomachaches.' Additionally, the school nurse can play a
critical role in developing programs that address prevention,
early intervention and treatment of those that bully and those
that are bullied."
Related legislation . AB 1993 (Fox), pending in this Committee,
requires a school to offer counseling services to every pupil
who attends the school who, on or after January 1, 2015, has
been the victim of an act of bullying or who, on or after
January 1, 2015, has been found to have engaged in an act of
bullying. The bill also requires a school district to provide
training on the topic of bullying to every teacher employed by
the school district, and requires every teacher to complete the
training.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of School Counselors
California Federation of Teachers
California Protective Parents Association
California Psychological Association
California School Employees Association
California School Nurses Organization
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) California
Public Counsel
Opposition
None on file
AB 1455
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Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087