49-6-4301 - School officials to report student offenses. - Tennessee Statutes

49-6-4301. School officials to report student offenses.

(a)  Every teacher observing or otherwise having knowledge of an assault and battery or vandalism endangering life, health or safety committed by a student on school property shall report such action immediately to the principal of the school. Every principal having direct knowledge of an assault and battery or vandalism endangering life, health or safety committed by a student on school property or receiving a report of such action shall report the action immediately to the municipal or metropolitan police department or sheriff's department having jurisdiction. Any fight not involving the use of a weapon as defined in § 39-17-1309, or any fight not resulting in serious personal injury to the parties involved, shall be reported only to the school administrator.

(b)  The report made to the law enforcement agency shall include, if known, the name and address of the offender, and the name and address of the victim, if any. The report shall also contain a description of the action and whatever additional information is requested by the law enforcement agency.

(c)  The commissioner of education, in conjunction with the commissioner of safety, shall establish a statewide uniform violent incident reporting system that all LEAs shall follow. The uniform violent incident reporting system shall require all LEAs to report annually to the commissioner in a form and by a date prescribed by the commissioner, the following information concerning violent and disruptive incidents, as defined by the commissioner, that occurred in the prior school year:

     (1)  The type of offenders;

     (2)  If an offender is a student, the age and grade of the student;

     (3)  The location at which the incident occurred;

     (4)  The type of incident;

     (5)  Whether the incident occurred during or outside of regular school hours;

     (6)  Where the incident involved a weapon, whether the weapon was a firearm, knife or other weapon;

     (7)  The actions taken by the school in response to the incident, including when the incident was reported to law enforcement officials and whether disciplinary action was taken against the offenders by law enforcement;

     (8)  Any student discipline or referral action taken against a student offender and the duration of the action; and

     (9)  The nature of the victim and the victim's age and grade where appropriate.

(d)  The commissioner shall require a summary of the information from subsection (c) to be included, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, in the annual report published by the commissioner each year pursuant to § 49-1-211.

(e)  Annually on or before February 1 of each year, the commissioner shall report to the governor and the general assembly concerning the prevalence of violent and disruptive incidents in the public schools and the effectiveness of school programs undertaken to reduce violence and assure the safety and security of students and school personnel. The report shall summarize the information available from the incident reporting system and identify specifically the schools and school districts with the least and greatest incidence of violent incidents and the least and most improvement since the previous year or years.

[Acts 1981, ch. 341, § 1; T.C.A., § 49-1320; Acts 2007, ch. 548, § 15.]