Senate Bill No. 588
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 19, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend article two, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section thirty- three, relating to requiring the state board to promulgate
antihazing rules for public school-sponsored student
organizations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
thirty-three to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-33. Rules for antihazing.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds that hazing has become a
problem in a limited number of public school-sponsored student
organizations and that legal liability has already resulted from
some of those activities. It is the intent of this section that problems with hazing in public school-sponsored student
organizations be addressed.
(b) The state board shall promulgate legislative rules in
accordance with article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code that addresses hazing in the public school system. The
rules shall include at least the following:
(1) A definition of hazing;
(2) A definition of a public school-sponsored student
organization that includes both cocurricular and extracurricular
activities;
(3) A method to advise students and employees of the
problems associated with hazing;
(4) Appropriate penalties or procedures for establishing
penalties for students who haze while engaged in the activities
of a public school-sponsored student organization; and
(5) Methods to prevent hazing in public school-sponsored
organizations.
(c) The state board shall consider the antihazing law set
forth in article sixteen, chapter eighteen in drafting the rules
required by this section.
(d) Nothing in this section or in the policy promulgated in
accordance with this section may be construed to prevent a
suspension or expulsion executed in accordance with section one- a, article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
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(NOTE: Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the code, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.)