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In Eleventh Hour, Senate Republicans Suspend Rules To Pass DEI Ban

Both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature voted to pass a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. But a technical error sent the state Senate into chaos Saturday night.

With minutes left in this year’s legislative session, the West Virginia Senate fell into chaos over a late-night technical error.

Senate Bill 474 — ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives statewide — has been one of the most hotly contested pieces of legislation set forth this year, shepherded by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. But procedural confusion threw the state’s upper legislative chamber into a scramble Saturday night, casting doubt over the bill’s fate.

The Senate ultimately passed the bill, but ranking members say they are unsure whether the steps taken to do so were entirely legal. Some even say the debate over Senate Bill 474 could spill into the courtroom.

A procedural back-and-forth

After receiving approval from its chamber of origin last month, Senate Bill 474 passed the West Virginia House of Delegates Saturday night 87 to 12, following hours of debate and numerous amendments from the body’s Democrats.

“We’re handcuffing our educators so they’re not wanting to teach these sorts of things. That’s what we’re doing,” said Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha. “But when we start attacking education, that’s where we’re failing.”

Once the bill returned to the Senate for final approval, things got messy.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, motioned for a vote in the bill’s favor, but withdrew it shortly thereafter. Senators said the House needed to iron out technical issues before giving it an okay.

Later, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, called to suspend Joint Rule 3, which pertains to disagreements over amendments between the two chambers. He urged senators to concur with the House amendments that were sent back to the House “due to technical flaws.”

“I request unanimous consent to suspend Joint Rule 3 and concur and pass on Senate Bill 474,” Tarr said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, had proposed 15 amendments on the bill that were yet to be reviewed. Tarr said calling a suspension of Joint Rule 3 meant the Senate did not need to take up those amendments.

“It makes it so that, if it is amended, we don’t have to consider any of those amendments,” Tarr told West Virginia Public Broadcasting after the floor discussion. He said he had planned on debating the amendments, but thought summoning Joint Rule 3 would more effectively avoid a lengthy amendment review.

“If we hadn’t went ahead and done that all in one motion, we would have had to consider all the amendments,” Tarr said.

Efforts to intervene fall short

Bills that do not pass both chambers by midnight on the final day of session are considered dead. Tarr said cutting off debate over the bill was an important next step toward ensuring the bill’s passage.

The Senate currently includes just two Democrats: Garcia and Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell. During the process, both stood up to speak, but their microphones appeared to be disabled.

“They did not allow any debate,” Garcia told WVPB. “They didn’t even allow us to take the amendments that we had filed in the system and have a hearing on each of them — which I believe, under the rules, is something that had to happen.”

“I think there is, technically, a legal deficiency with how that bill was passed,” he continued. “The rules were not followed.”

Both Democrats repeatedly requested points of order from Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston. That process seeks to ensure legislative procedure is being followed correctly. But Smith shot down some of their appeals, and did not recognize the rest.

The Senate then voted to suspend its rules and passed the bill 32 to 2. After a protracted legislative battle, it now heads to the governor’s desk, where it can be signed into law.

Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, attends a Senate Education Committee meeting March 18.

*Photo Credit: Will Price/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, speaks on the Senate floor March 10.

*Photo Credit: Will Price/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

‘What lies ahead’: Lawmakers react

Woelfel said an “agenda by certain senators” overpowered legislative procedure.

“I’m disappointed that the rules of the Senate were just roughshod run over tonight. I’m disappointed,” Woelfel said. “It wasn’t about any particular bill. But if we don’t go by the rules that are set, we’re letting people down.”

Smith said the passage of Senate Bill 474 was agreed upon by most lawmakers, regardless of technicalities.

“We’ll find out if it was legal or not if someone challenges it,” Smith said. “But, as far as I’m concerned, … everything was in order.”

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, declined to comment after the legislature’s lower chamber gaveled out at midnight. “We’ll talk about all that next week,” he told WVPB.

Both Garcia and Smith said their party used procedural rules to advance their policy priorities.

“You’re damn right,” Garcia told reporters after the chamber gaveled out. “I’m gonna do every single thing I can to try to stop bad policies from happening.”

“It’s just part of the process. They tried to kill it that way, and we tried to save it this way,” Smith said. “It’s all part of the system.”

Garcia argued the state legislature’s Republican supermajority allows some lawmakers to circumvent the rules. The state’s Senate has the highest concentration of one party in a single legislative chamber in the United States.

“They have the ability to do a lot of these different things,” Garcia said. “It just goes to show we have a lack of balance.”

Smith said he was personally unsure about the procedure that occurred, and felt Tarr or a lawyer “above my pay grade” was better equipped to speak to the legality of the bill’s passage.

“Every bill can be challenged in court,” he said. “This one might be.”

In his first term as Senate president and thirteenth year as a state lawmaker, Smith described Saturday night as a first.

“Who knows what lies ahead?” he said.

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, urges members of the West Virginia House of Delegates to reject Senate Bill 474 on the chamber’s floor Saturday.

*Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Extensive debate

Just before the Senate frenzy, members of the House spent hours debating Senate Bill 474.

Like the Senate, the House took steps to limit discussion. The chamber cut off comments after particularly impassioned opposition to the bill from each of the state legislature’s only Black members: Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell and Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha.

The three lawmakers urged their colleagues to reject the bill outright.

“We keep passing legislation that more than likely will affect people who look like me,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to do something different, guys.”

“You’re gonna tell me, ‘I had to do it, man. I don’t believe in it, but I had to do it. I had to do it,’” Hornbuckle said to his fellow delegates. “You didn’t have to do nothing.”

House Reviews Numerous Amendments To Proposed DEI Ban

The West Virginia House of Delegates reviewed Senate Bill 474 Saturday. The bill would eliminate DEI initiatives across the state government — plus entities it funds, like public universities.

Read the latest on this story here.

Find more legislative updates on our 2025 Final Hours Live Blog.

The West Virginia House of Delegates is now reviewing Senate Bill 474, which would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the state government — plus entities it funds, like public universities.

Abolishing DEI is a central administrative priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, and an objective he shares with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party at large. But the bill has been a wide source of contention among Democratic lawmakers, and has even garnered pushback from the governor’s own party.

That debate manifested on the House floor Saturday, where delegates set forth a total of 24 amendments to the controversial bill from members of both parties.

Updated on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 10:35 p.m.

When the House began discussing Senate Bill 474, it set a one-hour cap on floor discussions over amendments to the bill. Lawmakers passed that threshold, which meant only those who sponsored each amendment were eligible to speak in the last stages of discussion.

The House rejected a handful of final tweaks to the bill.

That included amendments from Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, that would have added political ideology to the identity groups unable to be considered in the hiring, admissions and promotion processes; shielded private and parochial schools from certain restrictions in the bill; and added language protecting “free, robust and uninhibited debate” at institutions of higher education.

Another rejected amendment came from House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, which aimed to ensure that employees and contractors at colleges and universities have free speech protections and means to appeal “imposed discipline” over alleged violations of the state’s DEI repeal.

The House has moved to debating the full text of Senate Bill 474.

Updated on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 10:13 p.m.

While some early revisions to the anti-DEI bill found consensus from the House, a whole lot more have been rejected.

As the debate over DEI stretches into the final hours of this year’s legislative session, the House has already rejected 13 of the 24 amendments originally proposed for Senate Bill 474.

Several of the rejected proposals came from House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell.

Among them: an amendment giving colleges an extra year to report back on how they are complying with new DEI restrictions; an amendment to let colleges highlight how they support “underserved” identity groups in grant applications; and an amendment adding explicit language that colleges will not be prevented from providing financial aid to specific identity groups.

Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, introduced numerous amendments to Senate Bill 474, a proposed ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state. He is pictured here in January 2025.

*Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, introduced a total of 12 amendments to the full House chamber, the majority of which were also rejected.

These amendments included an assurance that “preferences granted to veterans” in state law are not affected by DEI cuts, protections for the content in university libraries and purported clarifications on access to college scholarships and visa eligibility for international students.

Throughout floor discussion, Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, routinely characterized Democrats’ amendments as efforts to circumvent restrictions on DEI at large and find ways to weaken its core intent.

Another unsuccessful amendment from Young would have ensured the bill would not impact “department, division, agency, or board of this state” in their ability to access “community programs” or partake in “private sector” partnerships.

“It’s not a back door. It’s an open front door,” Steele said of the amendment. “We might have put a fence outside, but it’s an open front door.”

Young also proposed an amendment to remove references to “color blind” processes from the bill, arguing it was an outdated term. Ultimately, it was rejected.

Meanwhile, Democrats argued that their amendments provided crucial modifications to a bill that could have unintended consequences.

Discussion on the bill was still active as of 10:13 p.m.

Original Story: House Votes Down First Spate Of DEI Amendments; Some Pass

Published Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 8:54 p.m.

Del. Bill Flanigan, R-Ohio — who has vocally opposed the bill — sponsored an amendment that would have clarified restrictions on DEI in public schools “shall not be based on isolated comments, classroom discussion or misunderstandings.” His amendment was shot down by a verbal majority vote.

Two amendments from Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, were rejected by the chamber. One would have made all provisions of the bill consistent among identity groups; currently, some parts of the bill apply to race, ethnicity and national origin as categories, but not gender.

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, argued that amendment could have made it hard to protect “female sports.” Hamilton disagreed, but ultimately did not secure support from a majority of the House.

Another amendment from Hamilton would have included language to protect residents from discrimination on the basis of hair type.

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, introduced amendments to Senate Bill 474 to make its text consistent across identity groups and add protections from discrimination on the basis of hair type.

*Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Steele likened the amendment to the CROWN Act, a bill passed by several states nationwide to protect against hair type discrimination, but which he said the House floor had not considered in full. He also argued forms of hair type discrimination would already fall under non-discrimination protections based around “national, origin or religion.”

“We do need to have a conversation,” Hamilton said. “There are specific barriers in place that are preventing certain classes of people, specifically African Americans, from being hired because of their hairstyle and their hair texture.”

That amendment was also voted down by the House.

Successful amendments

The House did adopt an amendment from House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, that explicitly states nothing in the bill’s text can be used to curtail West Virginia Human Rights Act, which extends residents “equal opportunity” to employment and public resources.

The House also passed an amendment from Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, which would affirm that the bill could not restrict universities in ways which would prevent them from meeting “accreditation standards.”

House Democrats Say Republicans Overlooked Laundry List Of Key Issues This Session

Just days remain in this year’s legislative session, but Democratic members of the West Virginia House of Delegates say the wider legislature has insufficiently addressed key issues affecting residents across the state.

House Democrats expressed disappointment over the Republican supermajority’s approach to things like child care, workforce development and benefits for state employees during a press conference at the West Virginia State Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, called these “kitchen-table issues” that had been at the top of his party’s agenda throughout the session.

“Unfortunately, we have seen this session again — I stand here on Day 57 — is a waste of time,” he said.

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, pointed to Senate Bill 474 as an example of a misplaced priority from lawmakers on the right. The bill would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs across state government.

Hamilton described the bill as “divisive and discriminatory.” She noted that some of its provisions allow for identity-specific initiatives on the basis of sex, but prohibit them on the basis of race and ethnicity.

Hamilton introduced an amendment to make provisions in the bill more uniform among these identity categories. It was approved by the House Education Committee but later walked back by the House Judiciary Committee, where she does not serve as a member.

“This is not a problem in West Virginia,” Hamilton said. “It does nothing to improve West Virginia. It only divides us.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said Republicans in the state legislature have focused on “campaign-mode,” “rhetoric-type” bills like these instead of things that would boost benefits for state employees or recruit more workers into the state’s overburdened foster care and correctional systems.

“This legislature and this governor [have] made the problem worse by failing to address the Public Employee Insurance Agency, failing to address that their health care keeps going up without giving adequate pay raises,” he said. “They need to be less concerned about ending DEI and more concerned about fixing PEIA.”

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, speaks at the House Human Services Subcommittee on Feb. 17.

*Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, attends a House Health and Human Resources Committee meeting on Feb. 24.

*Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography*

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, argued Republican lawmakers have introduced “harmful” bills this session. He specifically pointed to Senate Bill 592, which would loosen inspection requirements for oil, gas and coal tanks near water supplies.

The inspections were mandated by the state legislature after a devastating chemical leak into the Elk River from an above-ground storage tank contaminated drinking water for residents of nine counties in 2014.

House Democrats also criticized last-minute efforts to expand vaccine exemptions for West Virginia students after similar pushes failed earlier in the session; plus a bill that would authorize data centers to create their own microgrid energy supplies without paying energy rates or procuring local approval.

After the event, Cole Snyder, communications director for the House’s Republican caucus, pushed back against some of the concerns raised by members of the chamber’s Democratic caucus in an email to members of the media.

“House Democrats claim that the legislature is getting nothing done, but this is simply a lie,” Snyder wrote. “Quality bills are moving through the House of Delegates, oftentimes with their support.”

Snyder cited House Bill 2014 — the microgrid bill — plus House Bill 2389 and Senate Bill 458 as examples of Republican-led efforts to foster job growth in the state. The latter two bills would facilitate licensure processes in the state for dieticians and other professionals.

House Republicans have also spearheaded efforts to reform foster care, child welfare and student discipline, Snyder said.

“They simply choose to forget those bills when it comes time to play politics,” he added.

March 12 is the final day of this year’s legislative session, and bills have a March 10 deadline to be taken up for first reading on the floor of either legislative chamber. By then, House Democrats expressed doubt that the state legislature would address their overarching concerns.

“Session is almost over,” said House Minority Whip Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio. “That’s some good news for West Virginians.”

A New Emergency Shelter In Huntington, Understanding The DEI Bill And Egg Alternatives, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, what a DEI bill advancing through the legislature potentially means for the state, Huntington announces a new emergency shelter and a look at egg alternatives.

On this West Virginia Morning, Senate Bill 474 is one of the most contentious bills before the legislature this year. It is commonly referred to as the DEI bill for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. On Tuesday, news director Eric Douglas sat down with Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, and Rev. Paul Dunn from the First Baptist Church of Charleston to discuss what the bill potentially means on The Legislature Today.

Also, as communities across West Virginia have implemented camping bans that target homeless people with nowhere to sleep, the city of Huntington announced a very different approach. As Randy Yohe reports, the city plans to open a new, low barrier shelter away from the business district but close to needed resources.

And with the higher price of eggs, some people are turning to other breakfast foods, like cereal or yogurt. But in central Pennsylvania, WPSU intern Rivka Wolin wanted to find something close to actual eggs. So, she and her roommate cooked up some plant-based egg alternatives and had friends compare the taste to real eggs.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Controversial Senate Education Bills Get Hearings In House Committee

Senate Bill 154 seeks to prohibit public schools from providing instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity, while Senate Bill 474 is Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s bill to end DEI initiatives in state government.

Committees in both chambers wasted no time in taking up the bills advanced by their counterparts following Crossover Day. The House Education committee set to work on two of the more controversial bills to come out of the Senate this year.

Senate Bill 154 seeks to prohibit public schools from providing instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity.

But the bill would also require schools to report actions taken to affirm a student’s gender identity, like using their preferred pronouns, to their parents or guardians. Plus, it would allow for parents and guardians to take civil action against schools if impacted by violations of the new law.

Jim Brown, executive director for the West Virginia School Board Association, told the House Education Committee Wednesday afternoon that, as written, the bill would violate existing disciplinary and grievance procedures for teachers and staff accused of violating the new code established by the bill.

“It talks about the process for the employee, and it actually eliminates all due process, which is again illegal,” Brown said. “It actually provides the only recourse through Circuit Court. It eliminates the ability for the employee to file a grievance. And in actuality, it doesn’t even reference in the bill how they are allowed to provide a personnel hearing, which is also a violation of due process.”

Representatives from both of the state’s major educator’s unions stood to oppose the bill. Heather Hutchens, general counsel for the West Virginia Education Association, also spent much of her time in front of the counsel identifying various issues with the bill’s requirements for the handling of violations, what she called a disrespect to the teaching profession.

But Hutchens also spoke against the concept of the bill, saying it would pit staff against students.

“The bill potentially pits teachers against students by requiring them to second guess conversations that their students may have with them, and to infer the intent behind those conversations,” she said. “That erodes the concept that I’m sure that this committee has heard about many times, which is that very important concept that schools provide and that teachers be those caring adults for students, and there’s a lot of research that shows that being that caring adult is one of the essence essential items to student success with the passage of this bill, that concept for any student who has any question about gender identity is completely eroded.”

Hutchens highlighted the unique effects the bill would have on counselors, and concluded by saying she believed the bill would worsen the state’s teacher shortage by discouraging applicants.

A Putnam County teacher with 22 years in the profession, Cynthia Velo told the committee the bill would create a significant burden for educators not only from more bureaucracy and paperwork, but also the mental strain of questioning every interaction with students.

“As a kindergarten teacher, do I need to call home every time little Johnny picks up and wants to play in the kitchen set, rather than with the trucks? Is that gender identity dysphoria in kindergarten?” she asked. “Do I need to call home every time I accidentally call a student by the wrong gender name? Maybe Jenny sits there in first block and Gerald sits there in second. I accidentally call Jenny Gerald, do I need to worry then? Do I need to fill out more paperwork to go over? Maybe I said something, maybe I didn’t.”

Senate Bill 154 was not included on Thursday’s committee’s agenda despite being approved to advance to markup and discussion Wednesday.

Ending Diversity, Equity And Inclusion

House Education also heard discussion on Senate Bill 474, Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s bill to end DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state government, including institutions of higher education.

Delegates questioned the governor’s deputy counsel, Katie Franklin, about the bill’s language and the lack of definitions for the terms diversity, equity and inclusion.

Rev. Matthew Watts, spokesperson for the nonprofit advocacy Tuesday Morning Group, called the bill a solution in search of a problem and said he had not seen a compelling case presented for its need.

“The unintended consequences is that we’re going to send the message to people in this state that have come here to go to school – because it’s one of the best education values in the country, is one of West Virginia’s high education institutions – and they may be dissuaded from staying here, simply because they may feel like this is not a place that welcomes me or welcomes someone like me to be here,” Watts said. “We will have invested in them, and we need for them to stay because we have the lowest percentage of adults with a college degree in the United States of America, and we have the lowest labor participation rate in the United States of America”

Thursday afternoon, Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, presented two amendments to the bill, but both were voted down. Ahead of the committee’s vote, she gave an impassioned speech on the need for diversity and inclusion.

“Some of the ghosts of our past we keep alive because we won’t deal with issues. DEI, we don’t have this problem in West Virginia,” Hamilton said. “We create these problems, and when we do have the problems, we won’t stand for what’s right. Today, I’m standing and I’m going to be on the right side of history, because it matters.”

Hamilton is the only Black woman serving in the state Legislature.

“It’s offensive to me. It’s offensive to my ancestors. My great, great grandfather was a slave. That’s how my family got here,” she said. “But no one else has that testimony in here. DEI matters, and I’m tired of having these conversations every year, while I have to have a seat at the table, I’m tired of it.”

Hamilton concluded by saying that “at some point, West Virginia has to move beyond this.”

She echoed Watts and questioned the need for the bill before stating her intention to vote against it.

The committee voted 15 to 7 to advance the bill ending DEI practices in the state to the full House of Delegates.

Two Bills Take On Aspects Of School Safety in Senate, House Education Committees

Education committees on both sides of the Capitol have focused on bills that failed to pass the previous year to start this year’s session.

It is not uncommon for lawmakers to reintroduce a bill one year that failed the previous year, especially when that bill progressed out of at least one chamber. Education committees on both sides of the Capitol have focused on such bills to start this year’s session.

Monday afternoon the House Education Committee discussed House Bill 2187, which would permit teachers in K-12 schools to carry concealed firearms as a designated school protection officer (SPO). It is a reworked version of last year’s House Bill 4299, which passed the House but failed to move out of committee in the Senate.

Currently, West Virginia residents including teachers are prohibited from bringing guns onto school property, regardless of whether they have a permit.

The bill’s sponsor, Del. Doug Smith, R-Mercer, said the need exists for protection at schools with limited resources.

“It’s for schools in my district. Every elementary school in my district has no resource officer,” he said. “Teachers would like to be able to protect themselves, and the reality of it is, there’s not enough funding to pay for it all for every school across the state. That’s the reality.”

The bill designates an entire section to the training requirements for SPOs, including four hours of scenario-based or simulated training exercises, in addition to tactical live firearms training.

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, spoke to the potential personal trauma a staff member may endure.

“Because most mass shootings that take place in schools are done by students, will these teachers also get training in the event that a mass shooting takes place and they have to shoot their student?” she asked.

Smith responded that active shooter training was a requirement, including responding to casualty situations with interventions like “Stop the Bleed.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, expressed a concern shared by law enforcement groups that have opposed similar bills. He said having more armed individuals in schools could further complicate a potential active shooter situation for first responders.

“They’re going to have to go to this list and be like, ‘Okay, at this school, we’ve got 10 teachers that might be walking around with guns too, while we’re looking for an active shooter. We have these 10 other possible people,’” Pushkin said. “‘We just had their name. We don’t know what they look like.’”

The issue of students gaining access to a teacher or staff member’s weapon has been a point of concern for several years with similar bills, and came up again Monday afternoon.

Jim McJunkin, a retired critical care pediatrician, spoke to the committee as part of the committee’s public hearing. He recounted his personal experience of treating a child permanently injured by the negligent discharge of an unattended gun before discussing the need for preventative measures rather than more firearms.

“We believe in that primary prevention is very important, which includes secure school entry ways, threat assessment, suspicious activity reporting, mental health access and safe storage education for safe storage of guns at home,” McJunkin said.

McJunkin pointed out that secure entryways for schools are required in code. But schools across the state struggle to comply with the mandate, an issue that lawmakers have followed during interim meetings this past fall.

As part of the new House committee procedure, the Monday meeting was merely a committee hearing and no action was taken on the bill. House Bill 2187 is not on the committee’s agenda for its next meeting Wednesday.

Senate Education

Monday the House of Delegates passed another school safety bill, House Bill 2515, which would give teachers from kindergarten to grade six the ability to remove students from their classroom for extreme disciplinary issues.

A very similar bill originated in the Senate last year, and Tuesday morning the Senate Education Committee discussed Senate Bill 199, their own version of that elementary level disciplinary bill.

Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, said the issue is worth so much attention because of the experiences shared by educators that have dealt with violent students.

“We’ve talked to teachers who have been stabbed, who have been beat up and bruised,” he said. “We’re really trying to address this issue, primarily with a lot of love to these students, because we understand these students are in a very difficult place, maybe difficult environment.”

He said the bill will not only help the students causing the issues, but their classmates and educators as well who are having their learning environment disrupted by outbursts.

Like its counterpart in the House, the bill calls for school counselors, social workers, and psychologists to conduct assessments for students exhibiting violent or threatening behavior. Students removed from their classroom would be placed on a behavioral plan for two weeks, with reevaluation and potential referral to a behavioral intervention program if progress is insufficient.

Senate Education Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, the bill’s sponsor, said she delayed introducing the bill several times to make sure it was the best version it could be.

“It could be better. Definitely funding could be better. Definitely having more behavioral interventionists would be great. We just don’t have those things right now,” Grady said. “This gives teachers, I think, something they can start with and something they can do to begin with, and then we can move towards a more perfect solution in the future.”

The bill was advanced to the full Senate with the recommendation it pass.