BECKLEY, WV (WOAY)- Tuesday, Governor Patrick Morrisey signed into law Senate Bill 199. Morrisey says this bill addresses student behavior, safety, and intervention in the classroom.
“We’ve talked to teachers from across the state, and one of the things that we constantly hear is that it helps when the teachers can have control over the classrooms,” said Governor Morrisey.
Senate Bill 199 aims to give teachers that control. WV Senator Grady introduced this bill to streamline the process of dealing with disruptive students in the classroom. That also includes if the student is threatening other students or faculty.
“We’re not going to tolerate violence and unruliness in the classroom,” said Morrisey. “We’re going to empower you to keep your students safe and bring order to your learning environment.”
The bill does this by having the student referred to a school counselor, social worker, or school psychologist to develop a evidence-based intervention plan. That plan would be implemented and reevaluated over the coming weeks.
After that, if progress has not been made, the student will be placed in a behavioral intervention program or with a licensed behavioral health agency. Parents agree that this bill will help their kids’ learning environment.
“The students need to learn to be good to teachers and respect their teacher because they need to go to school to learn and go to school every day, they have school,” said Brittany Jennings, a mother of a 1st grader.
However, the president of the West Virginia Education Association thinks that more has to be addressed.
“It’s a good first step. This bill’s actually a good first step, but we have to address the mental and emotional needs of the students,” explained Dale Lee, the President of the West Virginia Education Association. “While I believe we have to remove the disruptive job and we have to help our educators with that. But we’re not doing anything to really explore what’s causing these disruptions. We’re not looking at the mental and emotional needs of these students.”
He encourages Gov. Morrisey and legislators to go into the classrooms and talk with the teachers more about what they need to build a good learning environment for the kids.
