Tennessee’s Teacher Discipline Act Takes Another Step Toward Law
Tennessee’s Teacher Discipline Act Took Another Step Toward Becoming A Law After The State Senate Voted To Advance It. The Bill Passed With A 25-8 Vote On March 11, And Will Be Voted On Again By The House.
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Published March 15, 2021
[The Tennessee Conservative Staff] –
Tennessee’s Teacher Discipline Act took another step toward becoming a law after the state Senate voted to advance it. The bill passed with a 25-8 vote on March 11, and will be voted on again by the House.
The bill is meant to help teachers more effectively discipline students who cause continuous disruptions in class. Supporters believe it is necessary to help teachers do the best job they can, but there are others who worry it will negatively impact students.
Republican Senator Joey Hensley, who is sponsoring the bill, said, “Many times, (teachers) try to discipline a child, send them to the principal, the principal sends them right back to the classroom.”
While the House approved this legislation once before, they must now vote on an amendment so it can be sent to Governor Bill Lee for signing. House Bill 16 originally passed with a 91-0 vote in June, but the pandemic delayed it being seen by the Senate.
The Teacher’s Discipline Act “establishes a process for a teacher to request the removal of a student from the teacher’s classroom if the student’s behavior violates the LEA’s or school’s student discipline policy or code of conduct and repeatedly or substantially disrupts the class.”
This process includes six steps the teachers must follow before a student can be permanently removed. They have to document any previous actions taken, offer for them to see the school counselor, arrange a meeting with parents or guardians, and more.
Republican Senator Page Walley opposed the bill, saying, “When a teacher faces a disciplinary issue like this, removing the unruly student from the classroom isn’t the problem. The problem is getting that student the help they need so they can be reinstated into the classroom and achieve academically and behaviorally.”
Walley said counseling services and behavioral health specialists could offer a possible solution, in place of harsher discipline.
Wendy Tucker, from Tennessee’s advocacy group The Center for Learner Equity, released a statement opposing the bill.
In the statement, Tucker said, “Data clearly show that the forms of harsh discipline endorsed in this bill have been disproportionately applied to Black students and students with disabilities for decades. To now pass a bill that encourages these forms of discipline is unacceptable.”
The Tennessee Education Association said there is a way for the bill to be used in a fair way for all students.
President Beth Brown said, “TEA supports measures that give teachers more control over their classrooms and ensure all students have a safe, productive learning environment. This legislation provides for uniformity in discipline processes, recognizing that creating a classroom environment free of major disruption is good for all students.”
State Representative Scott Cepicky, another sponsor of the bill, said, “One of the main reasons teachers are leaving the profession right now is not being able to get control of their classrooms.”
If the Teacher’s Discipline Act passes, educators will be able to permanently remove students who continuously misbehave. The six-step process is put in place to make sure the actual removal of the student is the last resort option.
Students disrupting the classroom must be handled in a way that is helpful to the student and the class. If a child is removed, where would they go to receive the training they need? It is one thing to restore order, and another thing to condemn a child to a life of failure. Also, a teacher must not use this because they don’t like the student. There can be a fine line between an unruly student and a teacher lacking in understanding or concern for the student. Hopefully, these issues have been addressed.
Counseling services and behavioral health specialists, $100,000+. Wooden paddle, accountability and consequence for action… $5 (for a high quality paddle).
That being said, all children (and parents) should be given ample opportunity and resources to effect behavioral change. Harsher consequences should not be i fluenced by the color of a child’s skin, but by criteria and individual circumstance. Teachers and the administrators that consciously disregard or abuse this process need to be held fully accountable.
Counseling services and behavioral health specialists, $100,000+. Wooden paddle, accountability and consequence for action… $5 (for a high quality paddle).
That being said, all children (and parents) should be given ample opportunity and resources to effect behavioral change. Harsher consequences should not be i fluenced by the color of a child’s skin, but by criteria and individual circumstance. Teachers and the administrators that consciously disregard or abuse this process need to be held fully accountable
The law, if passed, seems very one sided. All of the steps are slanted toward the honest and integrity of the adults. There has to be a reasonable and equitable appeals process before I can support such a law.
I firmly believe that 99.0% of all teachers entering the profession have a love and desire to educate and mentor students. The system, as it has stood for many decades, is set up to wear them down and prevent thrm from doing their job. Discipline and Social Promotion are the main problems. A child who can’t read at a 2nd grade level and is promoted is doomed in third grade and the educators job is made impossible. The same is even more dramatic in mathematics. I understand, that after two or three years of this teachers just giving up, and becoming the baby sitters they are being forced to become. Great 1st step law, but the State must do even more. In Memphis, I refer to our public schools as perpetrating CHILD ABUSE, and this is not an exaggeration, even a little bit.
Ms. Tucker of The Center for Learner Equity claims that discipline is meted out “disproportionately” to a specific racial group of children based upon “data” that she fails to present in her comments.
I woul argue that discipline is meted out fairly amongst the percentage of students that are disciplinary problems.
She offers no comment on whether Asian, Hispanic or even caucasian children are discipline problems proportionate to their population in the schools.
Again, we only get a response to one side of a multifaceted question based upon one person’s agenda who fails to recognize that “Lerner Equity” should include all “lerner’s”.
Dare I say that the problem doesn’t like within the school, but with how the children are being raised at home, where the root of the problem most likely lies.