In recent years, there have been reported instances of students bucking against authority.
One example is cellphone camera video capturing a North Carolina student slapping his female teacher in the face twice. Another example is security camera video at a Florida school capturing a, reportedly, autistic 17-year-old boy beating a female teacher unconscious after she took away his Nintendo Switch.
The Wall Street Journal reports that behavior in the classroom has changed since the Covid lockdowns, and now states, including Texas, are making changes to benefit both teachers and students.
Mary Elizabeth Castle of Texas Values talked with AFN about Texas Senate Bill 27.
The bill covers multiple issues that are faced by public school educators, such as more control over leave and a retired teacher reimbursement grant program. However, for the safety of the teacher and the benefit of the classroom, the bill also returns authority in the classroom to the teacher.
Castle believes that this is just common sense and very much needed in schools today.
“Senator Brandon Creighton, actually, made it a top priority to have school discipline be a part of Senate Bill 27, which makes sure that, if a student is disruptive or unruly, they can be removed from the classroom and that just, like we would expect, they be disciplined for their wrong behavior and corrected for their wrong behavior,” explains Castle.
She said that, unfortunately, it has gotten out of hand, where students have become so unruly that even teachers' safety and maybe even life has come at risk at times.
"We're thankful that this very common-sense thing of correcting kids when they're wrong and removing unruly students is coming back to the classroom, and especially in Texas,” Castle expresses.
Castle also mentioned that in addition to Senate Bill 27, Senate Bill 12, the Parental Bill of Rights, also passed. Among other things, it allows parents the right to have a say in their children’s education.
“So, we encourage our listeners to check out both pieces of legislation,” Castle says.
