Student discipline taskforce assembles in wake of Spring Valley incident

A statewide taskforce has been assembled to study student discipline in the aftermath of an altercation between a school resource officer and a student at Spring Valley High School that drew national attention last month.

State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman created the 21-member Safe Schools taskforce, which includes and representatives of teacher, administrator, parent and law enforcement groups from around the state.

Their mission is to examine current state standards for student discipline policies and training models and to help determine best practices for discipline – as well as the role of law enforcement – in schools.

“For all students to be prepared for success after high school, the school environment must be one of trust, respect and order,” Spearman said in a statement. “By bringing together all stakeholders, we want to ensure that school communities have the best resources available, the proper procedures in place and the appropriate training.”

The group first met this Tuesday to receive presentations on district and school discipline policy adoption as well as positive behavior interventions plans. Future meetings will be held in the coming months.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 3:54 PM.