Beauregard Parish committee recommends discipline changes to cover digital harassment, escalate severe assaults and repeat phone violations

Beauregard Parish’s district dress-and-discipline committee unanimously approved a set of discipline-policy recommendations that would (1) broaden harassment language to address single, off‑campus incidents delivered in digital form, (2) add an escalated hearing step for students with repeated cell‑phone violations, and (3) permit indefinite suspension pending a safety/alternative‑placement hearing when a deliberate act causes puncture, bleeding or other injury.

The committee approved the three recommendations together after discussion and said the package will be forwarded to the full school board for action on March 13. Committee chair Mr. Johnson presented the discipline items and said they are intended to respond to new patterns of student behavior that have emerged since the last handbook update.

Committee members discussed how current state law gives schools authority to discipline off‑campus conduct that "interferes with the educational process," and agreed the handbook should explicitly address online harassment that may be a single—but harmful—incident. "I would like and our principal would like to add the word ‘digital,’" the committee’s discipline presenter said when introducing the change to the harassment section, explaining that state bullying definitions require a pattern of repeated actions while harassment can be a one‑time incident that nevertheless harms a student.

On cell phones, the committee agreed to add an additional escalation step to the existing consequence ladder. Committee members said most schools enforce the stowed‑away phone rule successfully, but repeat offenders created a need for an added disciplinary hearing. Under the proposed change, a student’s fifth recorded cell‑phone violation would trigger referral to the superintendent or designee for an alternative‑placement or disciplinary hearing.

The committee also recommended tightening the response for deliberate acts causing injury. The handbook currently lists short in‑school suspensions for early occurrences; the proposed revision would allow a suspension of three days to indefinite suspension pending a safety placement hearing when a student’s intentional act causes bleeding or requires outside medical attention. The presenter said the change preserves existing options while giving administrators an immediate path to request outside evaluation when the severity or intent raises safety concerns.

Committee members noted related issues raised during the meeting: the use of artificial‑intelligence tools in upper‑grade English classes was discussed under academic integrity and was characterized as currently handled under the district’s cheating and plagiarism rules; the committee did not take separate disciplinary action on AI but the staff said English teachers are addressing the matter.

All three discipline recommendations were carried unanimously. The committee chair said he will present the package to the full Beauregard Parish School Board at its March meeting and invited committee members to attend.

Less urgent procedural points raised during discussion included limits on device access (administrators described device searches and parental involvement as handled on a case‑by‑case basis) and the distinction between state bullying definitions and broader harassment definitions.

The committee’s recommendations are advisory; any final changes to the student handbook will require formal school board approval and will be reflected in the 2025–26 student handbooks if adopted.