The California State PTA has identified two additional issues as priorities:
AB 1012 (Steinberg) Student Interrogation Bill requires that before making an elementary school student available to the police for interrogation on campus, principals must ask permission from the parent and allow the parent to be present during questioning. In the case of a high school student, the student must be told that they may choose to have a parent or a member of the school staff present. These do not apply under certain conditions including when the student is suspected of being a victim of child abuse.
Currently, if a student is involved in a situation that necessitates the involvement of the police, there is no duty to inform the parent. The only time a parent must be notified is when law enforcement removes a child from campus.
CAPTA is cosponsoring AB 1012 with Steinberg and the ACLU. The bill has passed both houses with broad, bipartisan support and is on the Governor’s desk to be signed or vetoed.
ACTION: PTA is asking that we mail a letter to the Governor expressing our support for AB 1012. I will send a letter from Council as we have already taken a position on this and earlier (Feb. 12, 2004) sent a letter to the Governor in support of this bill. If you wish to send a letter as well, you may contact me for the address and suggested talking points.
SB 1386 (Vasconcellos) limits the kinds of drug testing policies schools can adopt in California. Would require reasonable suspicion of drug use, adequate notice to parents, and drug test results would be restricted to specified individuals. Also requires that students testing positive be referred to school counselors for help.
Drug testing has become a hot topic of debate since President Bush proposed, in his January 2004 State of the Union speech, to subject America’s school children to random drug testing. $25 million has been allocated, as grants, to schools and districts that adopt programs of random drug testing. Very few schools in California do any sort of drug testing of students. California State PTA believes that random drug testing erodes trust and confidence in school settings because students are assumed guilty and forced to prove their innocence. Trust and confidence between students and adults in schools are crucial to school connectedness which is associated with better health risk behavior in students.
The bill has passed both houses with broad, bipartisan support and is now on the Governor’s desk. CAPTA is asking us to mail letters to the Governor to ask for his support in signing SB 1386.
ACTION: We do not have a position on this, so will need to vote to take a position and determine if we wish to send a letter to the Governor.