San Bernardino County Plan for Providing Educational Services to Expelled Students

I. Introduction

As required by AB 922 (Chapter 974, Statutes of 1995; E.C. 48926), the County Superintendent, in conjunction with district superintendents, developed a plan for providing education services to all expelled students in the county. The plan was adopted by the governing board of each school district and the County Board of Education. The original plan was subsequently submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction by the deadline of June 30, 1997. Updates to the plan are due triennially.

The plan enumerates existing alternatives for expelled students, identifies gaps in educational services to expelled students, and provides strategies for filling those service gaps. The plan also identifies alternative placements for students who were expelled and placed in district community day school programs, but who failed to meet the terms and conditions of their rehabilitation plan or posed a danger to other district students.

E.C. 48916.1 requires that "at the time an expulsion of a pupil is ordered, the governing board of the school district shall ensure that an educational program is provided to the pupil who is subject to the expulsion order for the period of expulsion."

Therefore, every San Bernardino County school district governing board will refer each expelled student to an appropriate educational placement for the period of the expulsion. The educational placement will be determined on an individual basis by the school district's governing board based on 1) seriousness of offense, 2) available educational alternatives, and 3) other related factors.

The 11 elementary school districts, 20 unified school districts, and 2 high school districts in San Bernardino County provide services to students in the largest geographic county in the contiguous United States. These school districts range in size from the smallest with 85 pupils to the largest with a student enrollment of over 54,000 pupils.

Educational programs within San Bernardino County provide numerous opportunities for students who are in need of traditional and/or alternative education programs. School districts within the county offer a broad spectrum of educational alternatives, and the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools offers additional options via its Court School, Community School/Community Day School programs and its Special Education SUCCESS/SDC programs. Resource Specialist Programs (RSP) are provided for special education students served in the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Court and Community School/Community Day School programs. Special Day Classes are also provided by SBCSS for expelled students requiring a full day special education program. Other services, such as Designated Instruction and Services (DIS) are provided per the student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). In some cases, the districts provide the special education services directly. Other specialized services required by 504 Plans or for English Learners are also made available by either the district or the County Office. Working in partnership, the districts and the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools provide a wide range of services for expelled students.

All educational alternatives provided by the San Bernardino County school districts are not available to all expelled students. Seriousness of offense, location of offense, and grade level of the student all have the potential to restrict the district level educational alternatives available to the student during the period of expulsion. Students expelled from school for any of the offenses listed in subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 48915 of the California Education Code shall not be permitted to enroll in any other school or school district during the period of expulsion unless it is a county community school pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1981, or a juvenile court school, as described in Section 48645.1, or a community day school pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 48660) of Chapter 4 of Part 27. All expelled students shall be referred to an educational placement that is 1) not situated at a comprehensive elementary, middle, junior or senior high school, and 2) not housed at the school site attended by the student at the time of the offense (E.C. 48915). In addition to the requirements stated above, such factors as district size, district level alternatives, county level alternatives and district philosophy can influence the decisions by a district board of education regarding what educational alternatives are appropriate for the students who are expelled.