A effort has been launched in the State Senate to change the rules concerning suspensions and offences for which a student can be kept out of public school. Senator Bill Foster of Poplar Bluff sponsors the bill. He wants school officials to have some say as to whether troublemaking students should be allowed to mix with others. Under current law, some students who have committed violent offenses – such as rape – are allowed to mix freely with unsuspecting students because school superintendents are prohibited from asking about the criminal past of anyone whose case was dealt with in juvenile court.
