As used in this chapter:

(a) “Animal” means any living organism of the kingdom animalia, beings that typically differ from plants in capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor response to stimulation by a usually greater mobility with some degree of voluntary locomotor ability and by greater irritability commonly mediated through a more or less centralized nervous system, beings that are characterized by a requirement for complex organic nutrients including proteins or their constituents that are usually digested in an internal cavity before assimilation into the body proper, and beings that are distinguished from typical plants by lack of chlorophyll, by an inability to perform photosynthesis, by cells that lack cellulose walls, and by the frequent presence of discrete complex sense organs.

(b) “Alternative education project” includes, but is not limited to, the use of video recordings, models, films, books, and computers, which would provide an alternate avenue for obtaining the knowledge, information, or experience required by the course of study in question. “Alternative education project” also includes “alternative test.”

(c) “Pupil” means a person under 18 years of age who is matriculated in a course of instruction in an educational institution within the scope of Section 32255.5. For the purpose of asserting the pupil’s rights and receiving any notice or response pursuant to this chapter, “pupil” also includes the parents of the matriculated minor.

(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 88, Sec. 23. (AB 176) Effective January 1, 2010.)