A Texas bill that could potentially make it easier to kick students out of class was discussed Wednesday in a Senate education committee hearing.
Senate Bill 245, authored by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), aims to discipline students who misbehave in class.
The bill authorizes teachers to remove a student from class who “has been documented by the teacher to [repeatedly] interfere with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student’s classmates to learn,” or “whose behavior the teacher determines is [so] unruly, disruptive, or abusive and [that it seriously] interferes with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of the student’s classmates to learn.”
“Kids are just angrier these days,” Perry said, according to The Dallas Morning News (DMN). “We just have a different kid today than what we’ve had in the past.”
He also said Texas schools, in particular, had a “whole different demographic” compared to other places in the country.
Perry has previously made the statement, “Not all kids belong in the classroom anymore,” and he repeated that phrase once again during the debate on Wednesday.
The legislation would give teachers the ability to remove a student “based on a single incident” and allow schools to suspend students for longer periods of time or even place a student into a “disciplinary alternative education program.” The bill would also give more leeway to schools to expel students.
Representatives from the Texas Classroom Teachers Association testified in favor of the bill.
Opponents of the bill said that this type of bill would bring back the so-called zero-tolerance policies, which, in their view, would disproportionately affect minority students.
“We fear that this will result in mass removals of students, and potential chaos for an already substandard [Disciplinary Alternative Education Program] system that is not equipped to meet students’ educational, mental and behavioral health needs,” tweeted the IDRA, a nonprofit that seeks to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child, according to the DMN.
Teachers at Dallas Independent School District (DISD) Board of Trustees meetings have stated that teacher retention can be directly linked to how students treat them.
“We have teachers who are routinely facing classroom disruption, aggression, and violence without appropriate supportive solutions, which has led to teachers and students experiencing serious injury,” Elizabeth Farris, a DISD teacher, said at a January DISD meeting, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Teacher retention has been a consistent problem in DISD and across the country.
“Teachers are done, and I don’t blame them. They should feel safe. They should feel respected,” Perry said via the DMN.
Societal norms are not what they once were. Respect for adults in general, much less for teachers, is not taught in many contemporary households.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
You have that right Don. There was a time when society would lock a con man up and throw away the key. Now conservatives make con men senators and President.
Never thought I would agree with this bill but I do. One unruly student shouldn’t be allowed to disrupt an entire classroom. This is one reason why teachers are quitting. They are supposed to be teaching but find themselves having to deal with everything else. No one respects anyone any more.
These are kids we are talking about. If you cannot deal with brats do not become a teacher. Most kids do not want to go to class they have to be made to attend class. If you give them a way out they will take it. Want to go fishing today, stand at your desk and mumble rap lyrics. Get thrown out of school and go hang out with your friends. Allow superintendents to do their job, just give the schools the money they need to succeed.
This is long overdue. Education can’t be tailored to every child with disciplinary problems, it has to consider the greater good.
It made sense to provide different education to children with learning disabilities.
It does not make sense to cater to children who have repeated discipline problems.
How many good teachers have already left the system because this has gone on so long?
I remember an NPR/PBS discussion with Bill Moyers about the problems facing teachers with children in the classroom.
Teacher comments on-line after his show were shocking – the harassment, disrespect, classroom disruption, verbal abuse & outright violence against teachers was horrible & would never be tolerated in any other professional setting.
I realized then why I didn’t know a single person who sent their kinds to DISD schools.
Parents need to take responsibility for the behavior of their children in society. The school system should not allow bad behavior to ruin education for all other children.
We used to have Senate Bill 1!
He also said Texas schools, in particular, had a “whole different demographic” compared to other places in the country.
I look around at my students and I ask myself, why are there so many illegals and foreigners in my classes? WHERE ARE THE AMERICANS??