Members,
Please keep in mind that the VCUSD/VEA Collective Bargaining Agreement has specific information about your safety in the classroom.
Per Article 9:
Per 9.1 of the VEA/VCUSD Contract – Each school site shall develop rules for student conduct & discipline.
9.1.1 – These rules & your responsibilities are supposed to be reviewed annually.
9.1.2 – School sites are supposed to provide a copy of these rules & your responsibilities on the first work day of school year.
9.1.3 – School sites are supposed to discuss the rules & your responsibilities at the first staff meeting of the school year.
9.2.2 – Members can use reasonable force to protect themselves from an attack or to protect another person, to quell a physical disturbance or to obtain possession of weapons.
9.2.4 – ASSAULT Procedure
Unit members shall immediately report cases of assault suffered by them in connection with their employment to their principal or immediate supervisor, who shall immediately report the incidence to the police.
Per Article 13:
13.7 Unit members will be informed by the district of any student assigned to his/her class who, during the previous three years, engaged in criminal or disruptive conduct at school, while going to or coming from school or during a school sponsored activity.
13.8 Unit members may suspend any pupil fromhis/her class for the date of the suspension and the following day for any of the acts enumerated in Education Code 48900. The pupil shall not be returned to the class from which he or she was suspended during the period of the suspension without the concurrence of the teacher of the class & the principal.
13.9 At the beginning of the school year unit members will be informed of, but not limited to the following procedures:
Protocol for handling verbally or physically abusive students and/or parents.
Additionally, per the California Education Code:
48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to(r), inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object . . .
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled . . . an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance listed . . .
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property.
(g) Stolen or attempted to steal school property or private property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, and betel.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia . . .
(k) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.
(l) Knowingly received stolen school property or private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault . . .
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding . . .
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying, including, but not limited to,bullying committed by means of an electronic act . . .
48900.4. In addition to the grounds specified in Sections 48900 and
48900.2, a pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 12, inclusive, may be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion if the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has intentionally engaged in harassment, threats, or intimidation, directed against school district personnel or pupils, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to have the actual and reasonably expected effect of materially disrupting classwork, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of either school personnel or pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment.
48902. (a) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall, prior to the suspension or expulsion of any pupil, notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated, of any acts of the pupil that may violate Section 245 of the Penal Code.
(e) The willful failure to make any report required by this section is an infraction punishable by a fine to be paid by the principal or principal’s designee who is responsible for the failure of not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
240. An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present
ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.
241.2. (a) (1) When an assault is committed on school or park property against any person, the assault is punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (2) When a violation of this section is committed by a minor on school property, the court may, in addition to any other fine, sentence, or as a condition of probation, order the minor to attend counseling as deemed appropriate by the court at the expense of the minor’s parents. The court shall take into consideration the ability of the minor’s parents to pay, however, no minor shall be relieved of attending counseling because of the minor’s parents’ inability to pay for the counseling imposed by this section.
245. (a) (1) Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a deadly weapon or instrument other than a firearm or by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.