Since the pandemic, schools across the country have seen firsthand the effects of the pandemic in terms of student behavior and mental health. Some teachers are seeing it play out among students in their classrooms. Others, however, have fallen victim, and they’ve had enough.
Several weeks ago, Kentucky House members passed House Bill 538, a school discipline law that seeks to dissolve classroom disruptions by giving teachers the option to take immediate action to dismiss out-of-control students from the room. The decision came in response to frustrations among teachers and school staff members surrounding student misbehavior.
“The goal of this is to empower teachers to control what happens inside their classrooms,” Republican Rep. Timmy Truett said during a committee hearing.
Some teachers will greet this as good news, and a signal that they will be getting back some authority over behavior in their classrooms.
Last week in Nevada, several teachers testified before state lawmakers in support of AB285, a bill that was introduced on Tuesday that would stiffen punishments for students who frequently cause classroom disruptions using violent behavior. For some teachers, this bill is their saving grace.
“I was assaulted by a student in my class,” said Jessica Jones, a kindergarten teacher from the Clark County School District, FOX5 reports. “The student grabbed me, threw me up against the wall. He pulled my arm with so much force that I thought he dislocated my shoulder.”
As of now, schools across the state use what’s called restorative justice, a practice that uses nonpunitive intervention and support to improve student behavior. According to those who testified last week, the strategy has failed them.
“That student in my classroom had learned that violence is acceptable because of the lack of discipline and consequences for bad behavior,” said Jones.
Kristan Nigro, a fellow Clark County kindergarten teacher, was also verbally threatened by a 5-year-old who said they wanted to stab her and watch her bleed out. She said she is ready for students to be held accountable.
“It’s just a fancy buzzword and a complete failure,” she said. “My story is an accurate depiction of what restorative justice looks like in schools. It’s not working and there’s no accountability.”
The new bill, similar to Kentucky’s, would allow for the immediate removal of a misbehaved student as well as permanent expulsions for students of any age who commit violent acts against their peers or school employees. At the moment, this is only allowed for students 11 and older, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
So far, the bill has received positive feedback. According to the Nevada Electronic Legislative Information System, 61% support the bill’s passing while only 7% show opposition.
More from DA: How one state is putting the lid on student misbehavior by empowering teachers
