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TCTA Executive Director's Message
The 2006-07 school year is shaping up to be a nasty one in terms of school violence, both at the state and national levels. School safety is a rising concern and recent events in the media have brought home the issue in very real terms. Both students and educators have faced risks that represent a different level of threat that must be addressed.
Austin incident uncovers breakdown in communications
As I was driving to work one morning in late October, the local news radio station reported an attempted sexual assault on an Austin teacher by a student who, unbeknownst to the teacher, was required to register as a sex offender. I was immediately incensed because the teacher should have known; TCTA worked on successful legislation with Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) in the late 1990s to ensure that when a student who is convicted or adjudicated of having committed a serious crime enrolls in school, those educators responsible for supervising that student should be promptly notified.
It appears that neither the teacher (not a TCTA member) nor the school district had been informed. Law enforcement authorities had planned to notify the district at the end of the month, despite a provision in current law requiring law enforcement to notify school districts within 24 hours. While the student had been enrolled in the district for just a week, the lag was great enough to create a significant risk to the teacher. Though she successfully fought off her attacker, the incident should never have happened, and the outcome might very well have been less fortunate.
Compounding the problem, however, was the clear lack of knowledge by officials who should have been “in the know” when they commented on the incident. The chief of the school district’s police force was shown on a local television station saying that the district was limited regarding the information it could gather and distribute, and that a registered sex offender could not be treated differently from regular students. He was wrong; a judge in either a juvenile or adult proceeding can determine whether the student is required to register as a sex offender. If the student is required to register, the public’s entitlement to know trumps the privacy interests of the registered sex offender. The sex offender appears on the statewide registry of sex offenders, and the notice requirements for school personnel are triggered. The local head of the dominant teacher’s union in Austin (a combined TFT/ TSTA affiliate) was then quoted in an editorial noting that maybe educators should be notified of all felony offenders who enroll; again, a clear lack of knowledge of current law was demonstrated by virtue of the fact that this requirement, too, has been in law for nearly a decade.
TCTA initiates bill to help keep schools safe
Recognizing that there were problems with the law that should have protected this teacher and didn’t, TCTA has developed a legislative proposal to enhance and modify the provisions of current law relating to registered sex offenders in the classroom. Though it’s a “work-in-progress” at this point, the bill will tighten and clarify the timelines for notification by law enforcement officials to schools, and by school officials to appropriate educators. More importantly, it specifies that a student who is required to register as a sex offender may not be enrolled in a regular classroom setting. Instead, these students are to be enrolled in alternative education settings, where the environment can be more controlled and the notice to educators swift. In reviewing the policy implications, it simply made no sense to enroll registered sex offenders in the regular classroom setting. The law permits only those educators who have responsibility for directly supervising the student to be notified, which potentially puts the offender’s fellow students at risk at any time one of the notified educators is not present. At some point, students who commit crimes should forfeit their right to be in a regular classroom setting. Those required to register as sex offenders will still be entitled to the constitutional guarantee of a free education, but in a much more controlled environment.
School administrators need to know the law
We also asked Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley to send a letter to school administrators reminding them of the provisions of current law relating to potentially dangerous students, and notified our members of our efforts with a weekly e-update (if you’re not getting these, sign up). It is my understanding, at the time of this writing, that such a letter is in the works. Seldom have we received so many responses to an e-update that were unanimously positive. Not only did we hear from members, but I also received a call from a mother in the Houston area who had seen the news coverage of our efforts. Her 6-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted by an older boy who pleaded guilty to the offense, received a probated sentence requiring registration as a sex offender, and is now enrolled at a Houston area high school. This mother pledged to do anything she could to help us enact the changes to the law we have proposed.
To be sure, there are not huge numbers of registered sex offenders attending school around the state. Official estimates seem to indicate that the number is probably several hundred, which is a very small percentage of the public school population of more than four million. Yet, as in the case of school shooters, the risk represented by a registered sex offender in the regular classroom setting is significant enough that action must be taken.
Responding to school violence
Speaking of school shooters, both internal and external, as we have all seen from incidents ranging from Columbine to the attack on the Amish school in Pennsylvania, the risk is relatively small but the consequences devastating. Because of the increasing number of incidents and reported threats, the keynote address at our Annual Convention in March will be given by a representative of Response Options, a controversial group based in North Texas, that is taking a very different approach to threats in the schools than what we have seen before. You may have seen references to this group in the national media coverage of the most recent school shootings, in the context of advocating a much more proactive response to dangerous intruders, including such recommendations as having students hurl any available projectile at an intruder who enters the classroom. Response Options staff includes two experienced SWAT team veterans and a member of the British Army Reserve. Though we are not endorsing their approach, we do believe that our leaders should be exposed to a different way of thinking in considering the potentially life and death decisions that must be made when educators and their students are under attack. Just as women’s safety training has evolved over the years from a “be quiet and try not to get killed” approach to a “here’s how to fight back” recommendation, it may be time to take a second look at what constitutes an appropriate response. Does it really make sense to line up or get under your desk if an armed intruder is in the room, or to stay in “lockdown” mode even if you could get your students and yourself out of the building safely before an intruder reaches your classroom? Maybe it doesn’t.
The risks faced today by educators and students have unfortunately evolved, and so must our responses. We will continue our efforts to protect you and your students in the classroom, and to update you on our progress.
The Classroom Teacher, Winter 2006
Archive of other TCTA Publications
THE CLASSROOM TEACHER (ISSN-0279-2494) is the official publication of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA), providing news and opinions in the interest of education excellence. All contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the publisher’s permission. The views and opinions contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. Copyright © 2006. Publication schedule is quarterly. Annual membership dues for TCTA are $110, $5 of which is allocated to a one-year subscription to THE CLASSROOM TEACHER. Subscriptions for nonmembers are available for $10 per year.
