Bill regarding physical force against students passes Arkansas Senate panel with amendment

A bill that aims to specify which school employees may use physical force against students passed the Arkansas Senate Committee on Judiciary for the second time Monday.

The panel approved an amended version of Senate Bill 59, sponsored by Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, without audible dissent.

The legislation would specify that classified and licensed school employees “may use reasonable and appropriate physical force” on minors or incompetent persons under certain conditions.

Current law only permits a teacher, parent, guardian or “other person entrusted with care and supervision of a minor or an incompetent person” to use physical force to “maintain discipline or to promote the welfare” of the minor or incompetent person.

The committee approved an earlier version of the proposed law a week prior.

The amendment the panel considered Monday removed the term “without limitation” from a provision that would define a “school employee.” Chesterfield said the change was needed to clarify the bill would not apply to everyone on school campuses.

“Rather than seeming to give carte blanche to anybody who comes on a school campus to be able to do what he or she would want to, we wanted to make it more specific and we think it makes it a better bill,” she said.

When presenting her bill to the committee Jan. 30, Chesterfield said it was necessary to specify that both classified and licensed school employees are permitted to use physical force since she had learned staff at some schools had refrained from defending themselves against students for fear of losing their jobs.

“We need to clarify that when we say teacher we’re not just talking about those in the classroom,” she said. “We’re talking about the bus driver, we’re talking about … the cafeteria workers.”

Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said state law already included self-defense and defense of third person statutes which would cover school employees. Flowers raised concerns about whether all the school employees included in Chesterfield’s definition would be properly trained to discipline students, particularly students with disabilities.

“A part of training as educators is to deal with all children,” Chesterfield said. “We have to be trained in discipline. There’s not a lot of it that goes on unfortunately.”

Chesterfield said school staff are often “basically thrown into the classroom with very little professional development about what our rights are and what we can do in order to maintain order.”

Flowers said she was concerned “not only about the employees of the school district but more importantly about the children.”

“If it’s the children that are beating up folks, then we need to do something,” Chesterfield said.

“Sometimes it’s the reverse, and as an attorney I’ve seen that,” Flowers said.

Jerry Cox, executive director of Family Council, spoke in favor of the bill on Jan. 30, saying it “seeks to protect everybody and do as much good as we can.” Cox testified he has worked as a teacher and a bus driver.

No one testified against the legislation during either hearing on the bill.