FNCC - STUDENT CONDUCT: PROHIBITED ORGANIZATIONS AND HAZING

MEMBERSHIP AND SOLICITATION

A person commits a Class C misdemeanor if the person:

1. Is a member of, pledges to become a member of, joins, or solicits another person to join or pledge to become a member of a public school fraternity, sorority, secret society, or gang; or
2. Is not enrolled in a public school and solicits another person to attend a meeting of a public school fraternity, sorority, secret society, or gang or a meeting at which membership in one of those groups is encouraged.

Education Code 37.121(a),(c)

A person commits a felony if the person, with intent to coerce, induce, or solicit a child to actively participate in the activities of a criminal street gang, threatens the child with imminent bodily injury or causes the child bodily injury.

Penal Code 22.015

AEP PLACEMENT

The Board or an educator shall recommend placing in an alternative education program any student who commits the offenses described above.

Education Code 37.121(b)

PERSONAL HAZING OFFENSE

A person commits an offense if the person:

1. Engages in hazing.
2. Solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid another in engaging in hazing.
3. Recklessly permits hazing to occur.
4. Has firsthand knowledge of the planning of a specific hazing incident involving a student in an educational institution, or first-hand knowledge that a specific hazing incident has occurred, and knowingly fails to report that knowledge in writing to the principal, Superintendent, or designee.

Education Code 37.152(a)

DEFINITIONS

Public School Fraternity, Sorority, Secret Society, Or Gang

A "public school fraternity, sorority, secret society, or gang" means an organization composed wholly or in part of students of public primary or secondary schools that seeks to perpetuate itself by taking in additional members from the students enrolled in school on the basis of the decision of its membership rather than on the free choice of a student in the school who is qualified by the rules of the school to fill the special aims of the organization. The term does not include an agency for public welfare, including Boy Scouts, Hi-Y, Girl Reserves, DeMolay, Rainbow Girls, Pan-American Clubs, scholarship societies, or other similar educational organizations sponsored by state or national education authorities.

Education Code 37.121(d)

Hazing

"Hazing" means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution directed against a student, by one person alone or acting with others, that endangers the mental or physical health or the safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization whose members are or include other students. The term includes:

1. Any type of physical brutality, such as whipping, beating, striking, branding, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on the body, or similar activity.
2. Any type of physical activity, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, calisthenics, or other activity that subjects the student to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the student.
3. Any activity involving consumption of a food, liquid, alcoholic beverage, liquor, drug, or other substance that subjects the student to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the student.
4. Any activity that intimidates or threatens the student with ostracism, that subjects the student to extreme mental stress, shame, or humiliation, or that adversely affects the mental health or dignity of the student or discourages the student from entering or remaining registered in an educational institution, or that may reasonably be expected to cause a student to leave the organization or the institution rather than submit to acts described above.
5. Any activity that induces, causes, or requires the student to perform a duty or task that involves a violation of the Penal Code.

Educational Institution

"Educational institution" for purposes of this policy includes a public high school.

Student

"Student" means any person who:

1. Is registered in or in attendance at an educational institution;
2. Has been accepted for admission at the educational institution where the hazing incident occurs; or
3. Intends to attend an educational institution during any of its regular sessions after a period of scheduled vacation.

Education Code 37.151

Adopted: 11/7/80

Amended: 1/14/88, 11/17/95, 3/21/03

Reviewed: 11/19/99

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