Was signed into law by Governor Newsom 10/08/2023

 

The following sections of SB 274 give some history regarding California legislative efforts to address willful defiant behavior in public school and charter school classrooms.
 

1. Section 1(c) AB 420 passed in 2014 removed willful defiance as a reason to suspend or expel pupils enrolled in grades 1 to 3.

2. Section 1(d) in 2019 SB 419 expanded the prohibition to middle school.
    

SB 274 would make it harder to suspend, or expel, a pupil in California public schools and charter schools due to willful defiance of those in authority.

• Section 1(b) emerging science regarding development and punishment for their behaviors has been evolving

• Section 1(e, f and g), black pupils are suspended at a far higher rate than their peers.
   

• Section 1(f) infers that some defiant behavior is harmless.
   

Comments: Regardless of supposed "new" studies, it is a centuries old fact that if learning is to take place, the classroom must be orderly. Each pupil, regardless of skin color, must be respectful of those in authority so that when an instruction is given to them, it is followed. Those who willfully defy authority must, at a very early age, be made to see that such behavior will not be tolerated and that such behavior brings unpleasant consequences.

Can some willfully defiant behavior be deemed as harmless? Perhaps, but that is for each teacher to decide where they will draw the line. Each teacher must have the right to say, "Enough is enough.This type of behavior will not be tolerated in my classroom." And, teachers need to know that those in authority above them will back them up.

Unruly and willfully defiant behavior cannot be tolerated in the classroom nor anywhere else on campus.

Contact the author: