Amendment #68 to H4879

SECTION 15. Chapter 15D of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 12 the following section:-

Ms. DuBois of Brockton moves to amend the bill Section 12A. (a) The department shall develop performance standards necessary for prohibiting or significantly limiting the use of suspension and expulsion in all licensed early education and care programs pursuant to clause (t) of section 2. The standards shall be developed with input from the mixed delivery early education and child care field and relevant stakeholders

The standards shall ensure that expulsion and suspension are limited to extraordinary circumstances where there is a documented assessment that the child’s behavior poses a serious ongoing threat to the safety of others that cannot be reduced or eliminated by reasonable program modifications that are accessible to the program.

(b) The performance standards shall include, but not be limited to: (i) benchmarks and goals for supporting children’s social, emotional and behavioral development to (A) reduce the use of expulsion as a disciplinary tool; (B) guidance to eliminate disparities in the use of suspension and expulsion, (C) facilitation of referrals for children with intensive needs; and (D) establishment of programs to provide transitional support for children returning to early education and care programming after extended absences, including behavioral health-related absences; (ii) engagement steps to be taken with the child and parent or guardian prior to suspension or expulsion; (iii) requirements for communicating disciplinary policies, including suspension and expulsion policies, to staff, families, guardians and community partners; (iv) pathways for programs to access technical assistance through the statewide program established in section 16EE of chapter 6A to support ongoing development of staff and teacher skills for supporting children’s social, emotional and behavioral development, reducing disparities and limiting the use of suspension and expulsion; and (v) requirements for assessing and documenting a serious ongoing threat to the safety of others.