LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas lawmakers are working to establish a law that provides more protection for teachers and students in the classroom.
On Wednesday, State Representative, Scott Richardson (R) filed House Bill 1062 (HB1062). This bill's purpose is to create the Teacher and Student Protection Act of 2025, which Richardson said helps give more teachers a say-so when they're faced with constant violent or abusive behavior in the classroom.
"We have multiple teachers right now in our environment that continue to experience violence in the classrooms," Richardson said. "So, this will allow students to have an equal and fair education, but to provide protections to teachers, especially for repeat violence in the classroom."
Arkansas lawmakers have enacted several laws aimed at enhancing school safety, but Richarson said their work is far from over.
Not only would HB1062 protect teachers, but it would also provide outside resources to help the students causing the disruptions.
"This bill provides for a team of stakeholders to evaluate the student during a 10-day cooling off period. This is an opportunity to pull the child out of the environment where their violent outburst occurred, allow them to be evaluated by counselors, medical professionals, of course, the administration and teacher and the parents or guardians of the individual," Richardson said.
Rasheeda Lumsey, a professional counselor who often works with adolescents facing behavioral issues, said she is a big fan of this method as she has noticed an increase of "outbursts" over the years.
"I love the idea of seeking out to address mental health issues because it goes deeper than the behavior we see. Anger is a secondary emotion, so if we can get what's up under that anger, we can possibly solve the problems," Lumsey said.
However, she said it takes a more holistic approach to get to the root of the problem, so she suggests having not only the student evaluated but also the household.
"Every good therapeutic program that works with children also have a parenting component and I think that should be something that should be initiated as well, if it's not already included in the bill," Lumsey said.
She hopes that this bill won't put a label on all children, but hopes that instead it caters to each child's individual need due to the fact that each "behavioral outburst" may be different.
"I could have a child who's acting out in anger because parents are divorcing and that needs to be addressed. Then I can have a child who's acting out of anger because they just had a bad day and so you need to make sure that it's individualized," Lumsey said.
We did ask Richardson how will the funding work for a project like this. He mentioned that the Arkansas Department of Education already has "established mechanisms."
"So the Arkansas Department of Education has already established mechanisms by which evaluation of these kinds of circumstances can be done, and we're just leveraging those in this particular situation," Richardson said.