Pupil discipline: cyberbullying: parent accountability.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the rehabilitative programs will be implemented.

Student Discipline: Cyberbullying and Parental Responsibility

This law expresses the intention to create new rules requiring students and their parents to participate in special programs if a student repeatedly engages in cyberbullying or is suspended for it.

What This Bill Does

• States the intent of lawmakers to enact future legislation that would require both students and their parents to take part in rehabilitative education, counseling, or training when a student repeatedly engages in cyberbullying or gets suspended for such behavior.

Who It Names or Affects

• Students who engage in repeated acts of cyberbullying at school
• Parents and guardians of students involved in such incidents

Terms To Know

Cyberbullying

Using electronic communication to bully someone repeatedly, causing them harm or distress.

Suspension

Being temporarily removed from school as a punishment for breaking rules.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill only expresses the intent of lawmakers and does not provide specific details about how these programs will be implemented.
• It is unclear when or if this intended future legislation will actually become law.

Official Summary Text

AB 2159, as introduced, Garcia.
Pupil discipline: cyberbullying: parent accountability.
Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act from a list of specified acts, including an act of bullying, which 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, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have one or more specified effects. Existing law requires suspension to be imposed only when other means of correction, including, among other things, a conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil, fail to bring about proper conduct.
This bill would state the intent of the
Legislature to enact future legislation that would, among other things, require that a pupil and the parent or guardian of a pupil who engages in repeated acts of cyberbullying or is suspended for cyberbullying participate in a program of rehabilitative cyberbullying education, counseling, or training.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF