The Enquirer recently reported a troubling trend in our schools: Teachers are increasingly being kicked, punched, bitten and seriously injured by students. These are workplace assaults, not merely classroom disruptions. No teacher should be expected to accept physical violence as part of the job.
Assaults in Ohio and Kentucky have risen above pre-pandemic levels. Kentucky has recorded more than 25,000 assaults on school employees since the 2021-22 school year. Behind those numbers are teachers and classroom aides suffering bruises, concussions and other injuries while doing difficult work.
Teachers educate children with widely different abilities, family circumstances and emotional needs. They maintain order, recognize distress and respond with patience.
But patience cannot mean passivity in the face of violence. Schools cannot promise students a safe place to learn while asking teachers to absorb the blows.
The issue is more complicated when a student is very young, has a disability or is experiencing a behavioral crisis. Those circumstances may explain the conduct, affect the student’s culpability and determine what services are needed. But an explanation is not permission for another assault. Compassion for a troubled child and protection for the adult in the classroom are compatible responsibilities.
Kentucky has taken a firm position. Its new law generally requires a one-year expulsion for students in grades six through 12 who intentionally injure or attempt to injure a school employee.
Ohio permits districts to remove a student for 180 school days, and potentially longer, when the student presents an imminent and severe danger. But authority is not protection. When the law merely permits administrators to act, a teacher’s safety can depend on a principal’s or superintendent’s discretion after an injury occurs. Minimum protections should not vary by school or administrator.
Ohio should follow Kentucky’s example and establish a clear rule: A student who intentionally assaults a teacher or other school employee must be removed immediately from that classroom. A serious or repeated assault should require placement outside the student’s regular school. The student should continue receiving an education, behavioral services and any special-education protections required by law. Removal should mean education in a setting capable of protecting both the student and school employees, not abandonment.
For younger children and students whose conduct is connected to a disability, discipline must be individualized. But safety remains essential. Before a student returns, the district should complete a behavioral assessment, provide needed staffing and services and create a written safety plan. An injured teacher should not simply be told the student will return to the same desk on Monday.
Every assault should be formally reported. Injured employees should receive prompt medical care and paid recovery leave without retaliation or pressure to minimize what happened. Reporting is not an act against a child; it helps schools identify dangerous patterns before someone is hurt again.
Teachers accept many burdens when they enter the profession. They know students may be angry, defiant or disruptive, and that some children require extraordinary patience and support. They do not surrender their right to personal safety.
Being kicked, bitten or concussed is not part of a teacher’s calling. It is workplace violence. Every child has a right to an education, but no child has a right to receive it at the expense of a teacher’s safety.
Our schools must honor both obligations: educate the child and protect the teacher.
Dennis Doyle lives in Anderson Township and is a member of the Enquirer Board of Contributors.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Getting hit shouldn't be part of a teacher's job | Opinion
