
After Removing Security-Discipline, WA Teachers Complain about Safety
Not all WA School districts are experiencing this, and not all educators wanted less security and discipline. But several years after significant changes to WA schools, there's renewed complaints about teacher safety.
This legislative session, teachers are asking something be done
According to information from Jason Rantz of AM 770 KTTH Seattle, growing numbers of educators are pressuring the legislature this year to take steps to improve teacher safety.
Rantz cited a Federal Way teacher who was assaulted by a student and injured so badly they've been out for a year. She, and others, are demanding safety in their work environment.
But as Rantz and others have pointed out, this current situation is of the teachers and their unions' own making. Most of the push to remove Police and lessen discipline came out of the George Floyd-era.
While many schools still have SROs (School Resource Officers - Police), some of the larger districts do not. Seattle, Bellevue, Bellevue, Olympia, Edmonds, and other Districts either ended their program or did not reinstate them.

During this time the teacher's union, and SPI Chris Reykdal were claiming school discipline systems were systemically "racist" because larger numbers of black and Native American students were subjected to, for example, suspensions.
Legislation was passed in Olympia making it harder to suspend or remove students, even if their behavior has been dangerously disruptive. According to Rantz:
"Spokane Public Schools initiated a district-wide implementation of restorative justice across all 54 schools. Seattle Public Schools made expulsions rare, instead pushing “inclusivity and cultural responsiveness that respects and values the diversity in schools and in classrooms across the district with an intentional focus on African American boys and teens.” The Clover Park School District embraced a race-conscious disciplinary process that took a student’s race into account before deciding how that student would be disciplined. "
Now that the results of these actions are being felt in many Districts, it is unlikely any significant action will be taken at the legislative level, at least not this year. It seems the WEA and some of its members have to reconsider the steps they took that have led to less safety in many schools.
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Gallery Credit: Andrew Lisa
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