Posted on 04/04/2005 12:49:21 PM PDT by SmithL
When teacher Bonnie Taylor swung open the gym doors of El Cerrito High School last week, she expected to take the stage at an assembly -- not take one on the chin.
The 56-year-old came home bruised, bandaged and outraged after a 17-year-old girl punched her in the face and jabbed a pencil at her hand.
The student faces suspension and possible expulsion. That doesn't make Taylor, a teacher of 33 years, feel any better about returning to work.
"Physically, I'm fine. Mentally, I'm still upset and angry," she said.
Student assaults are becoming more frequent in California, statistics from the state Department of Education show. Growing concerns in the West Contra Costa school district have prompted new demands from the United Teachers of Richmond to more strongly discipline unruly students and to protect teachers.
"They don't mind giving their life for education, but it should be a figurative thing, not a physical thing," said union President Gail Mendes.
According to a 2004 report, an estimated 90,000 violent crimes were committed against teachers on campuses nationwide from 1998 to 2002.
About 4 percent of teachers surveyed nationally in 1999-2000 said they had been attacked by students, according to the 2004 Indicators of School Crime and Safety report. Male teachers, city teachers and those at middle or high schools were more likely to be targets.
The magnitude of the problem is difficult to track. Like many states, California's data includes all school employees without separate statistics for teachers.
Recommended expulsions stemming from student assaults or batteries on school employees has grown steadily from 668 in 2000-01 to 1,053 last school year, according to the state Department of Education. However, those figures count students punished for violence against employees, not the attacks themselves.
"Who knows how many didn't get reported," said Chuck Nichols, a safety consultant for the state Department of Education.
In the 33,000-student West Contra Costa school district, the union recently added new safety proposals during contract negotiations.
The teachers want the district to pursue legal action if a student injures a teacher or damages property. The district would also reimburse teachers for injuries or repairs caused by campus assault or vandalism.
The union, which represents about 2,000 teachers, also wants stiffer punishment for students who break the rules.
Teachers can banish students from their classroom the day of an offense and the next day. The union wants to expand classroom suspensions for up to five days to prevent what Mendes calls "the revolving door."
When students violate a rule, such as using profanity, teachers send them to the principal's office from where they often return during the same period.
"All the kids around them see that and they think, 'Gee, if you can get away with it, I can too,'" Mendes said.
Swearing does not amount to homicide. But lax punishment for minor infractions encourages more aggressive acts, Mendes said.
"It starts with children being verbally disrespectful to teachers. It moves into using foul language. And it escalates" to physical attacks, she said.
The district has rejected the safety proposals. Lengthening classroom suspensions might violate student legal rights, said Laurie Juengert, lawyer and member of the district bargaining team.
"The district believes that proper disciplinary action should be taken against students who injure teachers," Juengert said. "However, we have to follow the due process requirement for state and federal law."
Researchers say documenting the problem is the main obstacle to preventing violence against teachers.
Most public education systems do not record or report the information in a detailed manner, said Susan Gerberich, director of the Center for Violence Prevention and Control at the University of Minnesota.
"You're really getting the tip of the iceberg of what the problem may be," she said.
This year, the center embarked on a first-of-its-kind investigation of violence against teachers. Researchers will survey at least 12,600 of them in Minnesota over three years to study what happens to them and why and identify risk and protection factors.
Most studies of campus violence prevention have focused on children.
"There's been very little attention paid to teachers," Gerberich said.
To meet federal reporting requirements, California schools report expulsions related to Education Code violations that include disrupting school events, carrying a weapon and assaulting or battering a school employee.
But few want to admit their schools are violent, and chalking up more expulsions offers little reward for a principal looking for approval from higher-ups.
"They see that as a bad thing," Mendes said. "Well, it is a bad thing that the children are out of school and aren't learning. But it's a good thing for other students who are in the classroom and are learning."
In Oakland schools, state-appointed administrator Randolph Ward ended the practice of dismissing student crime.
The district reported 10 recommendations for expulsions from assaulting or battering an employee in 2000-01, before Ward arrived. Last school year, the district recommended 156 expulsions for attacks on employees; the year before that, 92.
Teachers often shy from reporting abuse out of pride or to maintain the facade of invulnerability, Mendes said.
Once, a teacher casually told her that boys routinely grabbed her breasts in the halls. Another called Mendes after getting elbowed in the ribs by a student.
Neither filed a report.
"'Why bother? Nothing's going to happen.' I hear that from teachers all the time."
Boy, I just hope that 17yr old girls self-esteem is still in tact./sarcasm
Isn't that the all important factor in todays public schooling?
Everyone, everywhere should be concerned about the rising tide of violence in America, and come to the realization that it's not going to be quelled by more laws and more metal detectors.
Of course the parents of the 17 year old are saying "my po' baby is a good kid" and "who are you to judge her"
That would not be politically correct, don't want to hurt the little b@st@rds feelings now would we?? (sarcasm)
Small world! If my parents hadn't moved from the East Bay, that's where I would have gone to high school.
tsk tsk
The result of teachers still using stressful red ink to mark papers.
Those poor childrens' self esteem :(
/sarc
Amen!
After years of outcome based education and no moral absolutes being taught...the ends justify the means...truth is subjective etc. etc...they whine and complain that the kids are out of control. I am sorry but they are reaping what they have sown. To expect different behavior after being indoctinated into this liberal crap..is just plain insanity. Just what did they expect?
Spoken like true bureaucrats.
/'British' school systems philosophy of 'teaching'....
....today's....'Duck and Cover'... schools?
Chalk one up to "only in California". The little buggers would be handcuffed and arrested on the spot where I live. And in some cases, depending on the teacher, would probably would need medical treatment before booking. I don't know of any teacher around here that would put up with that kind of abuse from a socalled student.
This is not nearly as abhorrent as a school displaying the Ten Commandments in plain view.
The important thing is that she learned something from the experience. (Next time, and there will be a next time, the little darling will replace the pencil with a switchblade.)
For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would take a job in the public education field.
Not definite? What about possible (or even pending) incarceration?
[mattdono shakes head, offer best Bruce Willis impression] F*ckin' California.
Nope, it will be a pencil. Next time it won't be the hand that the pencil is used on.
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