Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Final Report - Conduct and Discipline 

This report describes all Conduct and Discipline-related legislation considered during the 2024 General Assembly Regular and Special Sessions.  Bills are listed as “Passed”, “Failed” or “Continued to 2025”.

Passed legislation will go into effect on July 1, 2024, unless otherwise specified in the legislation itself.

Bills identified as Continued to 2025 are no longer active for the 2024 Session but can be picked back up by the continuing committee where they were left off in the legislative process during the 2025 Session.  While possible, it is rare for a continued bill to be picked back up. Typically, such legislation is simply reintroduced in the next Session.

UPDATED: 06/03/2024

Conduct and Discipline – Passed

Xylazine; manufacturing; selling; giving; distributing; possessing; veterinary use exemption; penalties. HB 1187 (Hodges) and SB 614 (Pillion) provide that any person who knowingly manufactures, sells, gives, distributes, or possesses with the intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute the substance xylazine, when intended for human consumption, is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Under the bills, any person who knowingly possesses xylazine, when intended for human consumption, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Under the bills, it is not an offense to (i) manufacture xylazine for legitimate veterinary use; (ii) distribute or sell xylazine for authorized veterinary use; (iii) possess, administer, prescribe, or dispense xylazine in good faith for use by animals within the course of legitimate veterinary practice; or (iv) possess or administer xylazine pursuant to a valid prescription from a licensed veterinarian.

Public schools; transfer and management of scholastic records; disclosure of information in court notices; transfer of disciplinary records; requirements. HB 1317 (Cole) and SB 443 (Durant) require the superintendent of any school division to, upon receiving notification of the disposition in a delinquency case concerning a student who is not enrolled in such school division, forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division where such student is enrolled or where such student intends to enroll, as evidenced by the receipt of a request from the other school division for such student's scholastic records. Current law only permits the superintendent of any such school division to forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division in which the student is currently enrolled. The bills also require a copy of the complete student disciplinary records of any student transferring from one school division to another to be transferred to the school division to which such student is transferring, upon request from such school division.

Drug Control Act; Schedule I; Schedule II; Schedule IV; Schedule V. HB 1333 (Waschmann) and SB 111 (Peake) add certain chemicals to Schedules I, II, IV, and V of the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule. HB 1333 incorporates HB 1450 (Thomas). 

Conduct and Discipline – Continued to 2025 or Failed

Department of Criminal Justice Services; law-enforcement officers; interrogation practices. HB 250 (Glass) would have provided that the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall have the power and duty to establish a comprehensive framework for the custodial and noncustodial interrogation of adults and juveniles by law-enforcement officers within the Commonwealth, which shall include (i) developing policies and procedures for interrogation practices, including guidance on when the use of the following is considered lawful: (a) false promises of leniency, (b) misleading statements regarding evidence or statements of witnesses or co-conspirators, and (c) inauthentic replica documents or computer-generated audiovisual evidence; (ii) establishing and publishing a model policy for conducting such interrogations to serve as a guideline for criminal justice agencies in the Commonwealth; and (iii) establishing compulsory minimum training standards for basic training and recertification of law-enforcement officers on conducting such interrogations. The bill would have further provided that the Department establish and publish such model policy by January 1, 2025. The bill would have required any person employed as a law-enforcement officer prior to July 1, 2024, to complete the training required by the bill by January 1, 2028. Note that HB 250 passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by the Governor. 

Public elementary and secondary schools; student discipline; evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices. HB 398 (McQuinn) and SB 586 (Pekarsky) would have prohibited, except in certain cases involving specific offenses enumerated in applicable law or in cases in which the division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating circumstances, as defined by the Department of Education, exist, any public elementary or secondary school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school without first considering at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice such as community conferencing, community service, mentoring, a peer jury, peer mediation, positive behavioral interventions and supports, a restorative circle, or the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports. The bill also would have required the Department to add as part of the student behavior and administrative response collection required pursuant to relevant law the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices as a behavioral intervention in order to evaluate the use and effectiveness of such practices. Note that both HB 398 and SB 586 passed the General Assembly but were vetoed by the Governor. 

Student bullying; definition; characteristics of victim. HB 536 (Cole) would have adjusted the definition of "bullying" in the context of public education to specify that the real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim that is involved in the act of bullying includes such a power imbalance on the basis of the membership of the victim in a group that is protected from discrimination pursuant to the Virginia Human Rights Act. Note that HB 536 passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by the Governor.

Student safety and discipline; certain reports to school principals and division superintendents; form and scope HB 573 (Henson) would have required local law-enforcement authorities to prepare in writing and provide to the principal or his designee and the division superintendent a report on (i) any suspected offense, offense for which any charge has been filed, or offense that is subject to investigation that was committed or is suspected to have been committed by a student enrolled at the school if the offense would be (a) a felony if committed by an adult, (b) a violation of the Drug Control Act and occurred on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, or (c) an adult misdemeanor involving certain enumerated incidents and (ii) whether the student is released to the custody of his parent or, if 18 years of age or older, is released on bond. The bill requires division superintendents to report all such incidents to the Department of Education in an annual report that is made available to the public. Current law does not require such reports to be in writing and only applies to student offenses but does not specify whether such reports are required to be made for student offenses that are suspected, charged, or subject to investigation. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Education. 

Threats of death or bodily injury to persons on school property; penalty HB 752 (Walker) would have made it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person to orally make a threat to kill or do serious bodily injury to any person, regarding that person, while that person is (i) on the grounds or premises of any elementary, middle, or secondary school property; (ii) at any elementary, middle, or secondary school-sponsored event; or (iii) on a school bus, when the threat places the person who is the object of the threat in reasonable apprehension of death or serious bodily injury to himself.

Public elementary and secondary schools; compulsory attendance policies and procedures; educational neglect defined HB 767 (O’Quinn) and SB 619 (Pillion) would have revised the policies and procedures relating to addressing the nonattendance or nonenrollment of a child subject to compulsory education requirements by expanding the definition of "abused or neglected child" to include educational neglect and, therefore, requiring any teacher, attendance officer, or other person employed by such child's school, to report such neglect to the appropriate authority in accordance with pertinent law. The bill would have defined "educational neglect" as the failure or refusal to provide necessary education for a child who is subject to compulsory attendance in accordance with relevant law and is enrolled in a public school and has missed 10 percent or more of the academic year, including by (i) causing or allowing the child to become chronically absent, defined as any student who has missed 10 percent or more of the academic year for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences, or (ii) failing or refusing to enroll a child in any school who is not otherwise exempt from school attendance if (a) such failure or refusal to enroll continues after the school notifies and institutes proceedings against the parent and (b) the time elapsed between the institution of proceedings and the continued noncompliance to date exceeds 10 percent of the academic year. Note that HB 767 failed while SB 619 was Continued to 2025 in Senate Education and Health.

Department of Education; uniform system of discipline for disruptive student behavior HB 853 (Obenshain) would have required the Department of Education to establish, within its regulations governing student conduct, and each school board to adhere to, a uniform system of discipline for disruptive behavior and the removal of a student from a class that includes, among other things, (i) criteria for teachers to remove disruptive students from their classes, including a requirement for a teacher to remove a disruptive student from a class if the disruptive behavior is violent and a requirement to implement a three-strike system for nonviolent disruptive behavior whereby a teacher is required to remove a student from a class if the student repeats or continues the nonviolent disruptive behavior after the teacher provides two warnings to the student; (ii) a prohibition against holding a teacher liable for taking reasonable actions or utilizing reasonable methods to control a physically disruptive or violently disruptive student; and (iii) appropriate exceptions and modifications for children with disabilities based on the unique needs of each such student.

Disorderly conduct; penalty HB 1319 (Kent) would have removed the prohibition on the applicability of the offense of disorderly conduct in public place to any elementary or secondary school student if the disorderly conduct occurred on the property of any elementary or secondary school, on a school bus, or at any activity conducted or sponsored by any elementary or secondary school.

School boards; powers and duties; policies regarding cell phones and other handheld communication devices SB 28 (Stanley) would have permitted each school board to develop and implement a policy to prohibit the possession or use of cell phones and other handheld communication devices during regular school hours.

School boards; placement in alternative education programs; disclosure of certain information in delinquency cases SB 444 (Durant) would have authorized a court in which a disposition is entered or deferred in any proceeding where a student is charged with an offense that, pursuant to relevant law, is required to be disclosed to the superintendent of the school division in which the student is enrolled to, upon written request of any such division superintendent, provide a copy of the court order ordering any conditions upon such disposition or deferred disposition to such superintendent. The bill would have also provided that the division superintendent may, for any student charged with such offense and who is required to attend an alternative education program, request from the court, upon a showing of good cause, additional information that may be relevant to such student's placement in an alternative education program, including conditions that may have not been specified in the court order.