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Students who attack teachers and other school employees face tougher penalties under a pair of bills awaiting Governor Landry’s signature. House Bill 283 stipulates that students who assault a school employee would be subject to automatic expulsion for a minimum of two semesters and would be required to attend anger management classes. New Orleans Representative Candace Newell calls the Bill the “Teacher’s Shield Act.” It creates new mandatory penalties for students who attack teachers and puts additional protections in place for employees. Earlier in the session, Kimberly McDaniel told the House Education Committee about how her father was assaulted by a student.
“He had sent him to the hallway for disrupting the class to deal with later, and was continuing to teach; and turned around to see if the student had exited the room because he had asked him to leave and hadn’t heard the door open, and that student punched him in the face,” McDaniel explained.
Nikita Drummond-Clark taught for more than 30 years and told the committee she was forced to retire due to an injury she had suffered at the hands of a student.
“The student was not in my class anymore, but she would pass my door while I was standing out there, and she would just look at me; and I was very afraid. I had never been afraid of students before, until this incident happened to me,” Drummond-Clark said.
A companion bill, which calls for a minimum six-month sentence in prison or juvenile detention for any student convicted of assaulting a teacher, is also awaiting Governor Landry’s signature.
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