School Boards 
Why Adopt This Policy?
Parents deserve to know when repeated classroom disruptions or serious behavioral incidents interfere with their child's education or affect school safety. While schools routinely notify parents when their own child is disciplined, families often receive no notice when instructional time is repeatedly lost because of the behavior of others.
Importantly, this policy does not create significant new administrative burdens for teachers or school staff. Wisconsin law already requires teachers who remove a student from class to provide the principal with a written explanation of the removal within 24 hours. School boards are already required to have procedures for notifying the parent of a student who was removed from class. This policy simply expands upon existing requirements by extending notification, in appropriate circumstances, to the parents of other students whose learning or safety may have been affected by the same incident.
This policy promotes transparency by establishing clear standards for when parents must be notified of disruptive or violent incidents that impact the educational experience of their children. Better communication strengthens trust between schools and families, encourages parental engagement, and supports teachers in maintaining orderly classrooms.
Note: Language included in brackets in the following policy are optional for school districts located outside the state of Wisconsin. For Wisconsin school districts, the bracketed language is required by state law.
Policy
I. Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to promote safe and orderly learning environments by ensuring parents receive timely, meaningful notice when serious or recurring behavior incidents disrupt their child's educational experience.
II. Reporting and Parent Notification
A. Teacher Report Following any disruptive or violent incident that results in removal from class, requires administrative intervention, or otherwise may require parent notification under this policy, the teacher shall, within 24 hours of the behavior or incident, provide the principal or the principal's designee with a written description of the incident.
B. Administrative Review
Upon receiving the teacher report, the principal or the principal's designee shall determine whether the incident satisfies one or more of the notification requirements established in this policy.
The principal or the principal's designee shall also determine whether repeated incidents, when considered together, trigger notification under this policy.
C. Parent Notification
The District shall notify a student's parent, within five (5) days of the incident, if any of the following occurs or applies:
- A disruptive incident in the student's classroom that results in the removal of a student from class due to the disruptive incident;
- The student is directly involved in or witnessed a violent incident or a disruptive incident that materially and substantially affected the student's educational environment;
- The principal or the principal's designee determines, based on previous teacher reports, that there is a persistently disruptive student that affects instructional time provided;
- Three (3) or more disruptive or violent incidents requiring removal from class, administrative intervention, or classroom evacuation, occur in the student's classroom within thirty (30) school days;
- A disruptive incident that involves violence or a threat of imminent violence and occurs during any of the following:
- Lunch, recess, passing periods, student arrival and dismissal, or other noninstructional time at the school in which the student is enrolled;
- An athletic practice, extracurricular club or meeting, or other school-sponsored activity in which the student participates or attends;
- An event or game that is sponsored by the school district in which the student is enrolled.
This notice must include all of the following:
- The date and time of the incident that triggered the notice;
- A description of the incident sufficient to explain the nature of the conduct and how it affected the learning environment;
- Information about how the parent may obtain additional information from the school.
A school board shall ensure that personally identifiable student information is not included in a notice required under this section and ensure compliance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and Wis. Stat. § 118.125.
III. Definitions
Disruptive [or Unruly] Behavior means student behavior that materially and substantially interrupts instruction or compromises the safety or orderly operation of the classroom or school.
Disruptive Incident means an incident of disruptive behavior that satisfies either of the following: A. The disruptive behavior intentionally causes damage to physical property of another person without the person's consent. B. The disruptive behavior is violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud, or otherwise disorderly conduct that materially and substantially interferes with instruction or school operations.
Materially and Substantially means that as a result of a behavior any of the items listed below occurs. Minor or isolated classroom misconduct that is promptly addressed by the teacher and does not meet one of the following criteria does not constitute material and substantial interference.
A. Instruction is interrupted for ten (10) or more consecutive minutes because staff are responding to student behavior; B. A classroom is evacuated; C. A student is removed from class as a result of disruptive behavior; D. A call is made for an administrator or security assistance as a result of disruptive behavior; E. There is damage to property or physical or verbal aggression requiring staff intervention.
[If behavior rises to the level of "materially and substantially" interfering with class instruction, then it is considered behavior that interferes with the ability of a teacher to teach effectively under Wis. Stat. § 118.164(2).]
Persistently Disruptive Students refers to student who have any of the following: A. Three (3) or more incidents of disruptive behavior on separate school days within any ten (10) consecutive school days that required removal from class or administrative intervention;
B. Five (5) or more incidents of disruptive behavior within thirty (30) school days that required removal from class or administrative intervention;
Violent [or Dangerous] Incidents are incidents that do any of the following: A. Causes or threatens to cause the death of another person; B. Causes or threatens to cause bodily harm, substantial bodily harm, or great bodily harm to another person by an act done with intent to cause harm to that person or another person without the consent of the person so harmed; C. Subjects a person to physical contact, including strikes, shoves, kicks, or attempts or threatens to do the same.
Legal Analysis – National
Local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs. Epperson v. State of Ark., 393 U.S. 97, 104 (1968) (“By and large, public education in our Nation is committed to the control of the state and local authorities”); Bd. of Educ., Island Trees Union Free Sch. Dist. No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 863 (1982) (“The Court has long recognized that local school boards have broad discretion in the management of school affairs.”); Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 507 (1969) (“The Court has long emphasized the need for affirming the comprehensive authority of the States and of local school officials, consistent with fundamental constitutional safeguards, to prescribe and control conduct in the schools.”).
Teachers, principals, and other school professionals are allowed to undertake reasonable actions to maintain order, discipline, and an appropriate educational environment. 20 U.S.C. § 7942.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or “FERPA,” would allow for the type of notices this policy calls for, so long as the notification does not disclose educational records that include personally identifiable information of parents and students. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; see also 34 C.F.R. § 99.3.
Legal Analysis – Wisconsin
A teacher may remove a student from the teacher's class if the student violates the code of classroom conduct or is dangerous, unruly, disruptive, or exhibits behavior that interferes with the ability of a teacher to teach effectively. Wis. Stat. § 118.164(2). If a teacher does remove a student, the teacher is required to notify the principal or his designee immediately of the reason for removal and a full written explanation of the reasons for removal within 24 hours. Wis. Stat. § 118.164(2).
Wisconsin school boards are also required to adopt a code to govern students' classroom conduct, including: a specification of what constitute dangerous, disruptive, or unruly behavior or behavior that intervenes with the ability of the teacher to teach effectively, any grounds for the removal of a student from class, procedures for determining the appropriate educational placement of a student who has been removed from a class, and a procedure for notifying the parent of a student who has been removed from class. Wis. Stat. § 120.13(1)(a).
Wisconsin statutes on student records allow for the type of notices this policy calls for, so long as the notification does not disclose pupil records, including behavioral records, without explicit parent permission. Wis. Stat. § 118.125(2).