22.1-279.3:1 - Reports of certain acts to school authorities - Virginia Statutes

§ 22.1-279.3:1. Reports of certain acts to school authorities.

A. Reports shall be made to the division superintendent and to the principalor his designee on all incidents involving (i) the assault or assault andbattery, without bodily injury, of any person on a school bus, on schoolproperty, or at a school-sponsored activity; (ii) the assault and batterythat results in bodily injury, sexual assault, death, shooting, stabbing,cutting, or wounding of any person, or stalking of any person as described in§ 18.2-60.3, on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsoredactivity; (iii) any conduct involving alcohol, marijuana, a controlledsubstance, imitation controlled substance, or an anabolic steroid on a schoolbus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, including thetheft or attempted theft of student prescription medications; (iv) anythreats against school personnel while on a school bus, on school property orat a school-sponsored activity; (v) the illegal carrying of a firearm, asdefined in § 22.1-277.07, onto school property; (vi) any illegal conductinvolving firebombs, explosive materials or devices, or hoax explosivedevices, as defined in § 18.2-85, or explosive or incendiary devices, asdefined in § 18.2-433.1, or chemical bombs, as described in § 18.2-87.1, on aschool bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity; (vii) anythreats or false threats to bomb, as described in § 18.2-83, made againstschool personnel or involving school property or school buses; or (viii) thearrest of any student for an incident occurring on a school bus, on schoolproperty, or at a school-sponsored activity, including the charge therefor.

B. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 12 (§ 16.1-299 et seq.) ofChapter 11 of Title 16.1, local law-enforcement authorities shall report, andthe principal or his designee and the division superintendent shall receivesuch reports, on offenses, wherever committed, by students enrolled at theschool if the offense would be a felony if committed by an adult or would bea violation of the Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.) and occurred on aschool bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, or wouldbe an adult misdemeanor involving any incidents described in clauses (i)through (viii) of subsection A, and whether the student is released to thecustody of his parent or, if 18 years of age or more, is released on bond. Aspart of any report concerning an offense that would be an adult misdemeanorinvolving an incident described in clauses (i) through (viii) of subsectionA, local law-enforcement authorities and attorneys for the Commonwealth shallbe authorized to disclose information regarding terms of release fromdetention, court dates, and terms of any disposition orders entered by thecourt, to the superintendent of such student's school division, upon requestby the superintendent, if, in the determination of the law-enforcementauthority or attorney for the Commonwealth, such disclosure would notjeopardize the investigation or prosecution of the case. No disclosures shallbe made pursuant to this section in violation of the confidentialityprovisions of subsection A of § 16.1-300 or the record retention andredisclosure provisions of § 22.1-288.2. Further, any school superintendentwho receives notification that a juvenile has committed an act that would bea crime if committed by an adult pursuant to subsection G of § 16.1-260 shallreport such information to the principal of the school in which the juvenileis enrolled.

C. The principal or his designee shall submit a report of all incidentsrequired to be reported pursuant to this section to the superintendent of theschool division. The division superintendent shall annually report all suchincidents to the Department of Education for the purpose of recording thefrequency of such incidents on forms that shall be provided by the Departmentand shall make such information available to the public.

In submitting reports of such incidents, principals and divisionsuperintendents shall accurately indicate any offenses, arrests, or chargesas recorded by law-enforcement authorities and required to be reported bysuch authorities pursuant to subsection B.

A division superintendent who knowingly fails to comply or secure compliancewith the reporting requirements of this subsection shall be subject to thesanctions authorized in § 22.1-65. A principal who knowingly fails to complyor secure compliance with the reporting requirements of this section shall besubject to sanctions prescribed by the local school board, which may include,but need not be limited to, demotion or dismissal.

The principal or his designee shall also notify the parent of any studentinvolved in an incident required pursuant to this section to be reported,regardless of whether disciplinary action is taken against such student orthe nature of the disciplinary action. Such notice shall relate to only therelevant student's involvement and shall not include information concerningother students.

Whenever any student commits any reportable incident as set forth in thissection, such student shall be required to participate in such prevention andintervention activities as deemed appropriate by the superintendent or hisdesignee. Prevention and intervention activities shall be identified in thelocal school division's drug and violence prevention plans developed pursuantto the federal Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (Title IV - Safe andDrug-Free Schools and Communities Act).

D. Except as may otherwise be required by federal law, regulation, orjurisprudence, the principal shall immediately report to the locallaw-enforcement agency any act enumerated in clauses (ii) through (vii) ofsubsection A that may constitute a criminal offense and may report to thelocal law-enforcement agency any incident described in clause (i) ofsubsection A.

Further, except as may be prohibited by federal law, regulation, orjurisprudence, the principal shall also immediately report any act enumeratedin clauses (ii) through (v) of subsection A that may constitute a criminaloffense to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object ofsuch act. Further, the principal shall report that the incident has beenreported to local law enforcement as required by law and that the parents maycontact local law enforcement for further information, if they so desire.

E. A statement providing a procedure and the purpose for the requirements ofthis section shall be included in school board policies required by §22.1-253.13:7.

The Board of Education shall promulgate regulations to implement thissection, including, but not limited to, establishing reporting dates andreport formats.

F. For the purposes of this section, "parent" or "parents" means anyparent, guardian or other person having control or charge of a child.

G. This section shall not be construed to diminish the authority of the Boardof Education or to diminish the Governor's authority to coordinate andprovide policy direction on official communications between the Commonwealthand the United States government.

(1981, c. 189; 1990, cc. 517, 797; 1991, c. 295; 1994, cc. 265, 285; 1995,cc. 759, 773; 1996, cc. 916, 964; 1999, c. 970; 2000, cc. 79, 611, §22.1-280.1; 2001, cc. 688, 820; 2002, c. 388; 2003, cc. 899, 954; 2004, cc.517, 542, 939, 955; 2005, cc. 461, 484, 528; 2006, c. 146; 2010, c. 525.)