REQUESTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION TO STUDY ALTERNATIVES TO SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION OF STUDENTS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND DEVELOP AN INTERVENTION PLAN THAT SCHOOL DISTRICTS MUST FOLLOW PRIOR TO SUSPENDING OR EXPELLING STUDENTS.

WHEREAS, students at risk are defined by researchers as those students likely to have low academic achievement and apt to drop out of school and enter the job market as unskilled laborers unprepared for full citizenship in our technological culture; and

WHEREAS, research indicates that many students at risk enter school already lacking in linguistic skills and parental involvement; therefore, as these students move through the education system, many drop out and face futures without basic skills such as functional literacy; and

WHEREAS, suspension and expulsion are used too frequently by some schools as a remedy for aberrant behavior, and those actions do not have any educational benefit; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that students at risk not be denied the benefits of an education;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state department of public education be requested to study alternatives to suspension and expulsion of students from public schools and develop an intervention plan that school districts follow prior to suspending or expelling students; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the intervention plan include course credit completion, community service and counseling; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the goal of the intervention plan be to create other options for the development and success of at-risk students; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state department of public education report its findings and recommendations to the legislative education study committee by October 2000; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the superintendent of public instruction, the state board of education and the legislative education study

committee.