WEST BATON ROUGE - The school year starts Thursday, Aug. 8 for students in West Baton Rouge, and Superintendent Chandler Smith says many parents and students ought to know before the morning bell rings.

“We’ve been waiting all summer for their return,” Superintendent Smith said. “We’ve done a ton of professional development”

Heading back to school will come with a few policy changes. The legislative session focused on classroom and handbook changes.

A new law amends the teacher's bill of rights, allowing teachers to remove disruptive students from the classroom. If the disruption is recurring, school employees must meet with parents. Another law recommends expulsion for students who bring knives and drugs to school. There was also a policy change about cell phones being on students during the school day.

“The legislative session was busy for us,” Smith said. “In our district K through eight schools, the kids are not allowed to have phones. It just pertains to our high schools.”

Smith said going into a new school year the district is focused on supporting teachers and staff.

“In West Baton Rouge we pride ourselves as a district that’s a family. We want to be supportive, and we want our teachers to feel that support from the top down.”