Arkansas’ new school laws kick in as classes start

In case you haven’t seen all the hullaballoo over area public schools starting back up, there are some new state laws to be aware of these days.

Several state representatives in our area, such as Gayla McKenzie, Charlene Fite, Robin Lundstrum, Megan Godfrey, Denise Garner and Nicole Clowney, have posted on their personal Facebook pages, and most have listed some or all of these new laws affecting children and public schools.

The only state senators I found with an inkling or mention of these new laws were Greg Leding and senate pro tem Jim Hendren.

These acts, all passed in the 92nd General Assembly, are pretty straight forward.

So as the big yellow buses fill with Arkansas’ future, please heed these no-nonsense laws. And most of the state solons do give you advance notice that the cellphone use in school zones has changed.

So beware or be ticketed.

These new laws include: • Act 641 ensures that elementary schools provide 40 minutes of recess for students.

• Act 190 states a school counselor shall spend at least 90% of his or her working time providing direct and indirect services to students.

• Act 629 allows school districts to hire certified law enforcement officers as school resource officers.

• Act 1029 requires parents of the victim of bullying be notified as soon as reasonably practicable. It requires schools to write a report on the complaint within five school days. The bill also requires the school notify the guardian of the student who is determined to have been the perpetrator of the bullying.

• Act 288 makes it a primary offense to use a hand-held wireless device in a school zone.

• Act 166 raises the maximum penalty for passing a stopped school bus from $500 to $2,000.

• Act 530 makes it a Class A misdemeanor if a mandated reporter fails to notify law enforcement of a serious threat regarding violence in or targeted at a school.

• Act 640 amends school discipline procedures, repealing mandatory expulsion from school for possession of weapons.

• Act 428 makes it against the law for students to be shamed or stigmatized for not paying for lunch. It prohibits schools from providing a different meal or snack than other students or requiring the student to dispose of the meal.

• Act 602 allows school districts to develop policies for distribution of excess food.

• Act 83 enhances the Right to Read Act. This bill would require public schools and openenrollment public charter schools to include a literacy plan in their annual school-level improvement plan. The plan would have to include curriculum and professional development aligned with the literacy needs of that school and based on the Science of Reading Initiative.

• Act 466 allows high school students to earn credit for the required family finance course starting in ninth grade.

• Act 245 requires that bleeding control training be taught as part of high school health courses.

So not only are we as citizens, grandparents, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of school-aged students held responsible for these new laws, many of these new laws place a responsibility for our public schools to act and react to situations found above.

I can hear the class bell ringing now. I hope everyone in our reading area has a safe and incident-free school year.

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