District staff presented the board of trustees with the 2025-26 student code of conduct at an Aug. 7 work session, detailing the implementation of education bills signed into law in June, including House Bill 6 and House Bill 1481.
The board will officially adopt the code of conduct at its Aug. 11 regular meeting.
What’s happening
Texas lawmakers passed HB 6 during the 89th legislative session, expanding the discipline capabilities of a school district. The bill aims to increase classroom safety by making it easier for teachers to remove students from class, per Community Impact reporting. The bill also provides more opportunities for in- and out-of-school suspensions.
On a similar note, legislators also passed HB 1481, a cellphone ban, to minimize distractions in the classroom. The bill prohibits students from using personal communication devices throughout the school day, including cellphones, smartwatches and tablets.
CFISD already operated with a no-cellphone policy in 2024-25, but the district must update the policy’s language to include all devices listed in HB 1481.
A closer look
In a presentation to the board, district staff highlighted seven key changes to the previous year’s student code of conduct, per guidelines from HB 6:
- Removal of the three-day cap on in-school suspensions; students can now receive an in-school suspension indefinitely, with a mandatory progress review after 10 consecutive days.
- Additional criteria for assigning students below third grade or students experiencing homelessness to out-of-school suspension, including threats to the immediate health and safety of other students in class and repeated or significant classroom disruption
- Expanded reasons a teacher may remove students from class for a single incident, no longer requiring prior written documentation
- Easier disciplinary protocols for special education students for conduct involving bullying, harassment or a hit list
- Modified consequence for first-time possession or use of e-cigarettes from mandatory placement in alternative learning centers to discretionary placement, giving the district more flexibility
- Expanded list of offenses that lead to mandatory placement in an alternative learning center
- Expanded list of expellable offenses
Additionally, the code of conduct will include a more thorough personal device ban to match HB 1481. The following devices are prohibited during the school day, according to the district’s new “Away for the Day” policy:
- Cellphones
- Smartwatches
- Earbuds/headphones
- Personal tablets/laptops
- Gaming devices
The district must also revise several policies to comply with Senate Bill 12, which clarifies “parental entitlements” involving access to class materials and opportunities to opt students out of certain topics. CFISD also plans to clarify its employee code of conduct to include enforcement requirements for these policies, according to discussion during the work session.
Superintendent Doug Killian noted during the meeting that CFISD was “ahead of its time” with similar policies already in place—such as its library categorization guidelines—so the district will only need to make slight adjustments to be in compliance with the new law.
Next steps
The board will take action on a lengthy list of policy revisions at its Aug. 11 regular meeting at 6 p.m. in the Mark Henry Administration Building.
