Kevin Brady: “Safe schools for students and teachers concerns us all, and from the shootings in Columbine to the recent shootings at…”

“Safe schools for students and teachers concerns us all, and from the shootings in Columbine to the recent shootings at Santana High School, all of us debate in this Chamber how to make our schools safer, how to make sure that our teachers and students are safe and return home safely each year. While we may disagree on some of the ways to do that, we are, in a bipartisan way, strongly supportive of returning order and discipline to our classrooms, and that is what this amendment is about: protecting teachers and schools from frivolous lawsuits when they responsibly maintain order and discipline in the classroom. Schools are becoming more and more dangerous. Teachers tell us they do not feel safe in their own school. They tell us they are afraid to discipline unruly students, afraid to stop fights among those students, afraid to even defend themselves. The reason is that teachers may face an expensive and career-damaging lawsuit by overzealous lawyers. And, worse yet, there is a good chance they will be humiliated again when their responsible decision to maintain order in the classroom is not backed up by the principals and the school boards who face constant threats of expensive, frivolous, harassing lawsuits. In the end, it is the children who suffer.”