AN ACT to allow students placed on short‑term suspensions to take their textbooks home for the duration of the short‑term suspension and to have access to homework assignments and to ensure that parents receive actual notice of a student's expulsion or suspension from school.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑391(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The principal of a school, or his or her delegate, shall have authority to suspend for a period of 10 days or less any student who willfully violates policies of conduct established by the local board of education. When a student is suspended under this subsection for a period of 10 days or less, the principal, or his or her delegate, shall give notice to the student's parent or guardian of the student's suspension and the student's rights under this subsection. The notice shall be given by telephone, telefax, e‑mail, or any other method reasonably designed to achieve actual notice. A student suspended under this subsection shall be provided all of the following:
(1)	The opportunity to take textbooks home for the duration of the suspension.
(2)	The right to inquire about homework assignments for the duration of the suspension.
(3)	The opportunity to take any quarterly, semester, or grading period examinations missed during the suspension period."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑391(d5) reads as rewritten:
"(d5)	When a student is expelled or suspended for more than 10 days, the local board shall give notice to the student's parent or guardian by certified mail, telephone, telefax, e‑mail, or any other method reasonably designed to achieve actual notice of the student's rights under this section. If English is the second language of the parent or guardian, the notice shall be written in the parent or guardian's first language when the appropriate foreign language resources are readily available and in English, and both versions shall be in plain language and shall be easily understandable."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2007‑2008 school year.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 24th day of July, 2007.

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2007