MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representative Hines
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-11-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS TO REPORT ACTS OF VIOLENCE THAT RESULT IN AN INJURY REQUIRING A CALL TO EMERGENCY SERVICE RESPONDERS FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY; TO AMEND SECTION 37-9-14, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-11-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-11-29. (1) Any principal, teacher or other school employee who has knowledge of any unlawful activity which occurred on educational property or during a school related activity or which may have occurred shall report such activity to the superintendent of the school district or his designee who shall notify the appropriate law enforcement officials as required by this section. In the event of an emergency or if the superintendent or his designee is unavailable, any principal may make a report required under this subsection.
(2) Whenever any person who shall be an enrolled student in any school or educational institution in this state supported in whole or in part by public funds, or who shall be an enrolled student in any private school or educational institution, is arrested for, and lawfully charged with, the commission of any crime and convicted upon the charge for which he was arrested, or convicted of any crime charged against him after his arrest and before trial, the office or law enforcement department of which the arresting officer is a member, and the justice court judge and any circuit judge or court before whom such student is tried upon said charge or charges, shall make or cause to be made a report thereof to the superintendent or the president or chancellor, as the case may be, of the school district or other educational institution in which such student is enrolled.
If the charge upon which such student was arrested, or any other charges preferred against him are dismissed or nol prossed, or if upon trial he is either convicted or acquitted of such charge or charges, same shall be reported to said respective superintendent or president, or chancellor, as the case may be. A copy of said report shall be sent to the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning of the State of Mississippi, at Jackson, Mississippi.
Said report shall be made within one (1) week after the arrest of such student and within one (1) week after any charge placed against him is dismissed or nol prossed, and within one (1) week after he shall have pled guilty, been convicted, or have been acquitted by trial upon any charge placed against him. This section shall not apply to ordinary traffic violations involving a penalty of less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) and costs.
(3) When the superintendent or his designee has a reasonable belief that an act has occurred on educational property or during a school related activity involving any of the offenses set forth in subsection (6) of this section, the superintendent or his designee shall immediately report the act to the appropriate local law enforcement agency. For purposes of this subsection, "school property" shall include any public school building, bus, public school campus, grounds, recreational area or athletic field in the charge of the superintendent. The State Board of Education shall prescribe a form for making reports required under this subsection. Any superintendent or his designee who fails to make a report required by this section shall be subject to the penalties provided in Section 37-11-35.
(4) The law enforcement authority shall immediately dispatch an officer to the educational institution and with probable cause the officer is authorized to make an arrest if necessary as provided in Section 99-3-7.
(5) Any superintendent, principal, teacher or other school personnel participating in the making of a required report pursuant to this section or participating in any judicial proceeding resulting therefrom shall be presumed to be acting in good faith. Any person reporting in good faith shall be immune from any civil liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.
(6) For purposes of this section, "unlawful activity" means any of the following:
(a) Possession or use of a deadly weapon, as defined in Section 97-37-1;
(b) Possession, sale or use of any controlled substance;
(c) Aggravated assault, as defined in Section 97-3-7;
(d) Simple assault, as defined in Section 97-3-7, upon any school employee;
(e) Rape, as defined under Mississippi law;
(f) Sexual battery, as defined under Mississippi law;
(g) Murder, as defined under Mississippi law;
(h) Kidnapping, as defined under Mississippi law; * * * (i) Fondling, touching, handling, etc., a child for lustful purposes, as defined in Section 97-5-23; or
(j) Acts of violence committed by any person resulting in an injury to any person requiring a call to emergency service responders for medical attention.
SECTION 2. Section 37-9-14, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-9-14. (1) It shall be the duty of the superintendent of schools to administer the schools within his district and to implement the decisions of the school board.
(2) In addition to all other powers, authority and duties imposed or granted by law, the superintendent of schools shall have the following powers, authority and duties:
(a) To enter into contracts in the manner provided by law with each assistant superintendent, principal and teacher of the public schools under his supervision, after such assistant superintendent, principal and teachers have been selected and approved in the manner provided by law.
(b) To enforce in the public schools of the school district the courses of study provided by law or the rules and regulations of the State Board of Education, and to comply with the law with reference to the use and distribution of free textbooks.
(c) To administer oaths in all cases to persons testifying before him relative to disputes relating to the schools submitted to him for determination, and to take testimony in such cases as provided by law.
(d) To examine the monthly and annual reports submitted to him by principals and teachers for the purpose of determining and verifying the accuracy thereof.
(e) To preserve all reports of superintendents, principals, teachers and other school officers, and to deliver to his successor or clerk of the board of supervisors all money, property, books, effects and papers.
(f) To prepare and keep in his office a map or maps showing the territory embraced in his school district, to furnish the county assessor with a copy of such map or maps, and to revise and correct same from time to time as changes in or alterations of school districts may necessitate.
(g) To keep an accurate record of the names of all of the members of the school board showing the districts for which each was elected or appointed, the post office address of each, and the date of the expiration of his term of office. All official correspondence shall be addressed to the school board, and notice to such members shall be regarded as notice to the residents of the district, and it shall be the duty of the members to notify such residents.
(h) To deliver in proper time to the assistant superintendents, principals, teachers and board members such forms, records and other supplies which will be needed during the school year as provided by law or any applicable rules and regulations, and to give to such individuals such information with regard to their duties as may be required.
(i) To make to the school board reports for each scholastic month in such form as the school board may require.
(j) To distribute promptly all reports, letters, forms, circulars and instructions which he may receive for the use of school officials.
(k) To keep on file and preserve in his office all appropriate information concerning the affairs of the school district.
(l) To visit the schools of his school district in his discretion, and to require the assistant superintendents, principals and teachers thereof to perform their duties as prescribed by law.
(m) To observe such instructions and regulations as the school board and other public officials may prescribe, and to make special reports to these officers whenever required.
(n) To keep his office open for the transaction of business upon the days and during the hours to be designated by the school board.
(o) To make such reports as are required by the State Board of Education.
(p) To make an enumeration of educable children in his school district as prescribed by law.
(q) To keep in his office and carefully preserve the public school record provided, to enter therein the proceedings of the school board and his decision upon cases and his other official acts, to record therein the data required from the monthly and term reports of principals and teachers, and from the summaries of records thus kept.
(r) To delegate student disciplinary matters to appropriate school personnel.
(s) To make assignments to the various schools in the district of all noninstructional and nonlicensed employees and all licensed employees, as provided in Sections 37-9-15 and 37-9-17, and to make reassignments of such employees from time to time; however, a reassignment of a licensed employee may only be to an area in which the employee has a valid license issued by the State Department of Education. Upon request from any employee transferred, such assignment shall be subject to review by the school board.
(t) To employ substitutes for licensed employees, regardless of whether or not such substitute holds the proper license, subject to such reasonable rules and regulations as may be adopted by the State Board of Education.
(u) To comply in a timely manner with the compulsory education reporting requirements prescribed in Section 37-13-91(6).
(v) To perform such other duties as may be required of him by law.
(w) To notify, in writing, the parent, guardian or custodian, the youth court and local law enforcement of any expulsion of a student for criminal activity as defined in Section 37-11-29.
(x) To notify the youth court and local law enforcement agencies, by affidavit, of the occurrence of any crime committed by a student or students upon school property or during any school-related activity, regardless of location and the identity of the student or students committing the crime.
(y) To employ and dismiss noninstructional and nonlicensed employees as provided by law.
(z) To temporarily employ licensed and nonlicensed employees to fill vacancies which may occur from time to time without prior approval of the board of trustees, provided that the board of trustees is notified of such employment and the action is ratified by the board at the next regular meeting of the board. A school district may pay a licensed employee based on the same salary schedule as other contracted licensed employees in the district until school board action, at which time a licensed employee approved by the school board enters a contract. If the board, within thirty (30) days of the date of employment of such employee under this subsection, takes action to disapprove of the employment by the superintendent, then the employment shall be immediately terminated without further compensation, notice or other employment rights with the district. The terminated employee shall be paid such salary and fringe benefits that such employee would otherwise be entitled to from the date of employment to the date of termination for days actually worked.
(aa) To notify the local law enforcement agencies of the occurrence of any violent act committed by any student or adult upon school property or during any school-related activity, which requires a call to emergency service responders for medical attention, regardless of location and the identity of the student or adult committing the violent act.
(3) All funds to the credit of a school district shall be paid out on pay certificates issued by the superintendent upon order of the school board of the school district properly entered upon the minutes thereof, and all such orders shall be supported by properly itemized invoices from the vendors covering the materials and supplies purchased. All such orders and the itemized invoices supporting same shall be filed as a public record in the office of the superintendent for a period of five (5) years. The superintendent shall be liable upon his official bond for the amount of any pay certificate issued in violation of the provisions of this section. The school board shall have the power and authority to direct and cause warrants to be issued against such district funds for the purpose of refunding any amount of taxes erroneously or illegally paid into such fund when such refund has been approved in the manner provided by law.
(4) The superintendent of schools shall be special accounting officer and treasurer with respect to any and all district school funds for his school district. He or his designee shall issue all warrants without the necessity of registration thereof by the chancery clerk. Transactions with the depositories and with the various tax collecting agencies which involve school funds for such school district shall be with the superintendent of schools, or his designee.
(5) The superintendent of schools will have no responsibility with regard to agricultural high school and junior college funds.
All agricultural high school and junior college funds shall be handled and expended in the manner provided for in Sections 37-29-31 through 37-29-39.
(6) It shall be the duty of the superintendent of schools to keep and preserve the minutes of the proceedings of the school board.
(7) The superintendent of schools shall maintain as a record in his office a book or a computer printout in which he shall enter all demands, claims and accounts paid from any funds of the school district. The record shall be in a form to be prescribed by the State Auditor. All demands, claims and accounts filed shall be preserved by the superintendent of schools as a public record for a period of five (5) years. All claims found by the school board to be illegal shall be rejected or disallowed. To the extent allowed by board policy, all claims which are found to be legal and proper may be paid and then ratified by the school board at the next regularly scheduled board meeting, as paid by the superintendent of schools. All claims as to which a continuance is requested by the claimant and those found to be defective but which may be perfected by amendment shall be continued. The superintendent of schools shall issue a pay certificate against any legal and proper fund of the school district in favor of the claimant in payment of claims. The provisions of this section, however, shall not be applicable to the payment of salaries and applicable benefits, travel advances, amounts due private contractors or other obligations where the amount thereof has been previously approved by a contract or by an order of the school board entered upon its minutes, or paid by board policy, or by inclusion in the current fiscal year budget, and all such amounts may be paid by the superintendent of schools by pay certificates issued by him against the legal and proper fund without allowance of a specific claim therefor as provided in this section, provided that the payment thereof is otherwise in conformity with law.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.