By July of next year, it will be illegal for public schools in California to suspend students for low-level behavior issues after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation banning “willful defiance” suspensions among TK through 12th grade students throughout the state.
Newsom approved Senate Bill 274, which takes effect July 1, 2024. Under SB 274, introduced by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, willful defiance suspensions are barred in grades 6-12, with a sunset of July 1, 2029, in all California public schools.
According to Skinner’s office, SB 274 builds on Skinner’s 2019 legislation, Senate Bill 419, which was signed into law by Newsom and permanently banned willful defiance suspensions in grades TK to 5 and prohibited them in grades 6 to 8 until 2025.
“Since my start in the state Senate in 2016, I’ve worked to end willful defiance suspensions in our public schools. The reason is simple: Suspending students, no matter the age, doesn’t improve student behavior, and it greatly increases the likelihood that the student will fail or drop out,” Skinner said in a statement Monday.
“With Governor Newsom’s signing of SB 274, California is putting the needs of students first. No more kicking kids out of school for minor disruptions. Students belong in school where they can succeed,” she added.
Historically, in California and around the nation, willful defiance suspensions have typically been levied for low-level disruptions, such as a student wearing a hat backward, falling asleep in class, or “talking back to a teacher,” Skinner’s office said.
Willful defiance suspensions have been disproportionately directed at students of color, LGBTQ students, students who are homeless or in foster care, and those with disabilities, the senator’s office said.
Under SB 274, teachers would be able to remove a student from a specific class for unruly behavior, but the youth would not be suspended from school. Instead, it would be up to school administrators to determine appropriate and timely in-school interventions or support for the student.
Willful Defiance … and you cannot get suspension any longer? Wow, way to go Democrats .. take more power away from teachers and authority figures. You wonder why people show such willful defiance to our Law Enforcement and other figures – I don’t. We are teaching them young it is okay to not follow the rules.
No suspension, and only in school punishment. Why do the teachers have to teach manners? Send the brat home so that the parents can deal with their disrespectful brats, and let the teachers do what they should be doing, teaching.
Stupid is supposed to hurt, but why does someone else’s stupidity have to hurt my family?
As for disproportionately affecting blah blah blah, just another politician crying ‘wolf’. I don’t believe it at all.
Falling asleep in class is “Willful Defiance?”
Just gave a boost to private school enrollment, Newsom or his friends are probably an investors there. This also continues the race to the bottom for public schools.
Gee, oh what could go wrong?
The far left idiots at their best!
Wow. You can’t make this stuff up.
When I was in school, kids would get suspended for doing the wrong thing whether it was getting in fights or disrespecting the teacher or student.
Now I guess Newscum🤡 will allow any bad behaviors.
It’s past time to get your kids out of public/government run schools.
Do online schooling, cohorts, or home school.
And it’s the only way to avoid your kids being indoctrinated.
This state is sinking fast!
And it deserves it all.
I’m all for that as long as you also outlaw demotion, suspension, or firing for giving someone a hard smack for “Willful Defiance.” There are situations where the use of force is appropriate.
I think they better start teaching manners, common decency, morals and ethics in schools ASAP. When there isn’t any accountability and/or responsibility for one’s actions, it will lead to total chaos. I suggest these “problem” kids spend a week in NewScum’s office while he’s there and see if he changes his opinion. I cannot wait to move out of this cesspool of a state…
@Tim – Manners, common decency, morals and ethics starts in the family. School employees are getting into trouble attempting to correct brats that are sent to school and now can’t even kick disruptive students out of school.
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Liberals are so soft on bad behavior.
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Until it comes to their doorstep
This law is purported to stop suspensions of “students of color” because of unfairness to minorities. We see this as justification of all sorts of policy changes.
People of color commit half of all murders in the US. Carried to its logical conclusion , this philosophy would eliminate murder as a crime due to its disproportionate impact on minorities.
Half? That would be a low ball guess.
if people of color commit half the murders who commits the other half?
and a few other thoughts.
@Tim: isn’t it the parent’s responsibility to teach the kids manners? Also they’ve tried to teach common decency in schools, many of you sell it as indoctrination. Speaking of which…
@countrygal In your home school are you teaching your students all the worldly views or just the ones you and your cohort agree with? I did home school for a a year and all the science and history text books had a heavy christian slant and blamed the world issues on other religions.
8 out of 10 times the kid who gets suspended treats it like a free day off from school as most parents are either working from home or at an office. If your suspension is really a day off, how are you punished?
CONCORD RESIDENT, You are punished by your parents or parent. Not just for one day but for weeks. What type of citizens are you raising?
My kids don’t get suspended
Our Son was suspended “Once”.
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A known bully thought our respectful, mild mannered Son might be a good target. My Son beat the $hit out of the punk; who was literally crying for Mama!
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Stuff they make movies out of.
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We took a day off work and took our Son to Six Flags….
Concord bridge dweller:people of color only comprise %16 of the population..math is not your strong point is it?
So virtuous on your soapbox aren’t you? Did you score the internet clout you were aiming for? You are so full of it the smell permeates through the monitor…
So the good kids will have to have their education and safety jeopardized because of the one joker in their class that can’t behave?
That explains it. “The soft bigotry of low expectations” continues to drive down student performance across public schools in California. Sad. They claim these policies are intended to help black and Hispanic students, but the exact opposite is true.
Hmmm, disrupting a class all day long by one out of control kid is “putting the needs of students first.” What a dope!
The problem was there wasnt an equal amount of people of “non color” be suspended for it to be fair to low information people.If whitey is well behaved then it looks like you’re picking an a certain race in their victim eyes.
This is like saying to my boss, I don’t want to work, and you can’t fire me. SMH
Will there be “participation” trophies given to bullies each time they injure a teacher or student?
Real life demonstration to youth violence is tolerated and useful to get your way.
Remains to be seen how DEM’s latest “EXPERIMENT” turns out.
Try and go shopping at Lucky’s on Clayton Rd when the high school lets out around 3pm. You’ll see plenty of “willful defiance” as dozens of “kids” pour into the store and pretty much take over. The store personnel aren’t allowed to do anything but stand by and watch them take over the store…
It is annoying as hell, they keep the entrance locked near McCaullous because of theft from these future scholars.
If a student is constantly disturbing classroom instruction they should be sent to a study hall. They cannot bill allowed to keep disturbing instructions.
How about “be” rather than “bill” . There I edited it.
Then expel them. Screw Gavin and his garbage.
We got smacked with a cane in school. No wonder classrooms today are a circus. Good luck with that teachers union.
L A city schools used a canoe paddle with a bunch of half inch holes drilled in the business end. I was just sitting here wondering if any of the girls got it. I doubt it. I never did but since it was done in front of the gym class I saw many get more than one. Here is another one they did in LA schools. If you wore your pants too low you got sent to the principal’s office where he cut off a length of rope and made you put it through the lupes of your pants and tie it tight. It was a different day back in the fifties.
Greasy corrupt Gaven at his usual finest. Teach kids that there will be no consequences for their bad behavior in school, so they can learn that there will be no consequences, punishment and jail/prison time if they become adult criminals.
If a kid gets suspended the school loses money! It always comes down to money!
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A suspended student is not counted towards attendance. Therefore, the school district doesnt get funding for that child for that day.
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Skinner believes if schools discourage “Willful Defiance” kids will drop out.
Lets assume for a moment, this works and kids complete their California education, such as it is. Next the kid goes out and manages to get a job. Now “Willful Defiance”= You’re FIRED.
So instead of dropping out of school they are dropping out of society. Either way they are dropping out.
Yet more shortsighted legislation from the socialist camp.
More Lib progressive lenient BS imho …. continues to teach no respect to teachers, parents, rules, laws, etc. Another get out of jail free to the you-know-who – More reason not to vote for those in office.-
Any we wonder why teachers drink.
And this goes along with no longer taking kids to juvy.
The hat backward thing is a complete lie,you cant wear a hat in class,period. ,what the teacher is going to tell you yo turn it around??I smell BS.what people usually wear a hat backwards and are always victims of society??Soon jail will be so much like home people will want to go there because its a free life and not punishment and,the same people that would”wear a hat backward in class” will want to go there.
Wonder how many teachers they talk to first?
Of course this applies to kids who willfully defy CRT courses and trans events as well, right??
Right???
“Minor disruptions”? But if a student is repeatedly screaming and swearing, they must be removed from the classroom. But since the school can no longer suspend them, they’ll have to supervise the disruptive kid on campus. Who’s going to do that, an administrator? Nope. They’ll just send the kid right back to class. These suspensions really aren’t about “fixing” the disruptive kid, they’re about removing disruption from the classroom so other kids can learn. We’re now sacrificing all the kids who behave in the long shot chance that keeping the disruptive kid in school will stop them from dropping out. Maybe instead of “suspending” a disrupter, districts will need to just transfer them to the alternative school in the district. This law is guaranteed to increase the rate of teachers retiring and quitting.
That sounds like great idea said nobody, letting mommies little monster rule the roost can’t possibly go wrong…
Several years ago I had a conversation with then MDUSD Board President Cheryl Hansen and I remember her saying it was her experience that 90% of the problems in schools/classrooms came from 5% of the students and 5% of the teachers.