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Proposed bill urges suicide assessment in student discipline

Former Palo Alto City Councilman and state Assemblyman Marc Berman is proposing legislation that would require school districts to consider a student's risk for suicide before expelling them for substance abuse. Palo Alto Weekly file photo.

Under a proposed state bill being sponsored by a former Palo Alto city councilman, school districts would be required to consider an important question before expelling them for substance abuse: Is the student at risk for suicide?

Assembly Bill 1261, which cleared the state Assembly Education Committee last week, was introduced by Assemblyman Marc Berman this February in the wake of a student suicide cluster in Clovis, California.