[0:21] our stream
[0:25] as we heard in our interim study
[0:26] earlier today, I think we can
[0:28] all agree that a well ordered
[0:30] classroom is a precondition of
[0:32] effective instruction. it's the
[0:34] foundation upon which all other
[0:35] educational activities are built
[0:38] because when chaos reigns in a
[0:39] classroom both teaching and
[0:40] learning become exponentially
[0:41] more difficult if not impossible
[0:43] and while the vast majority of
[0:45] educators intuitively understand
[0:47] and agree with this many current
[0:48] school discipline policies and
[0:50] philosophies actually undermine
[0:51] the very structure that most
[0:52] parents teachers and students
[0:53] crave
[0:56] and in my opinion our broader
[0:58] culture has largely bought into
[0:59] the lie that disciplining a
[1:01] child is the opposite of loving
[1:04] a child. I would say in reality
[1:05] proper discipline is an
[1:07] expression of love discipline
[1:09] provides students with clear
[1:09] expectations and offer
[1:11] constructive constructive
[1:13] proportional correction when
[1:15] they fall short it highlights
[1:15] the cause and effect
[1:17] relationship between actions and
[1:19] consequences and it restrains
[1:20] disruptions that are harmful
[1:21] both to the individual student
[1:22] and to the broader classroom
[1:22] environment.
[1:27] the 1891 edition of Black's laww
[1:29] dictionary states that education
[1:31] may be particular particularly
[1:32] directed to either the mental
[1:34] moral or physical powers and
[1:35] faculties but in its broadest
[1:36] and best sense it relates to
[1:37] them all
[1:41] some modern school policies
[1:42] often neglect the moral
[1:43] education of our students to the
[1:45] detriment both of our schools
[1:47] and our societyudents must be
[1:49] taught and trained to be
[1:51] virtuous not just college and
[1:52] career ready and so today's
[1:53] interim study will explore the
[1:55] proper role and limits of
[1:57] discipline in schools the impact
[1:58] of a healthy culture of
[1:59] discipline that that we can have
[2:01] on on all educational outcomes
[2:03] character formation and teacher
[2:05] recruitment and retention and
[2:05] also practical steps the
[2:07] legislature might take to
[2:07] support Oklahoma educators
[2:10] in maintaining well ordered
[2:10] classrooms and schools
[2:13] and to help guide us on that
[2:14] exploration we've got a great
[2:16] speaker joining us today so
[2:17] Lauren Gruel will be speaking to
[2:19] us she's the associate counsel
[2:21] at the Wisconsin Institute for
[2:22] Law and Liberty she has an
[2:23] undergrad degree from hillsdale
[2:25] College and went to law school
[2:27] at Regent University. She
[2:29] focuses on legal and policy
[2:31] issues related to K-12 education
[2:33] specifically and has played an
[2:34] instrumental role in creating
[2:35] policy solutions regarding
[2:37] school discipline issues both in
[2:39] Wisconsin and around the country
[2:40] and to to give
[2:43] all of us an idea of the flow
[2:44] today Law presentation is going
[2:47] to be divided into two sections
[2:48] basically one section on
[2:49] identifying or kind of
[2:51] identifying the problem and then
[2:52] this next section on identifying
[2:53] solutions and we'll take
[2:55] questions after each of those
[2:56] sections and so I'd encourage
[2:58] everyone to keep a notepad handy
[2:59] be jotting down questions we
[3:01] should have plenty of time for
[3:02] you to ask them so without
[3:03] further ado Lauren the floor is
[3:04] yours
[3:07] thank youpresentative Hall.
[3:08] good afternoon. my name is
[3:11] Laurenrole and aspresentative
[3:12] Hall mentioned I'm one of the
[3:13] attorneys at the Wisconsin
[3:15] Institute for Law and Liberty
[3:17] and I specialize in K through
[3:20] 1w2 education law and I'm here
[3:21] today to give an overview of
[3:23] teacher authority, student
[3:25] discipline and classroom
[3:27] management and what you as
[3:29] legislators could potentially do
[3:31] to ensure that teachers feel
[3:32] supported and students feel
[3:32] safe.
[3:37] but first I obli obligatorily
[3:38] have to give an overview of well
[3:40] thewisconsin institute for
[3:41] Law and Liberty or will is
[3:45] the501c3 nonprofit or a policy
[3:47] and litigation firm that works
[3:49] to advance limited government
[3:51] free speech, transparency and
[3:53] education reform across the
[3:55] country and to further that
[3:57] education reform piece we have
[3:59] created the reststoring American
[4:02] education initiative. So
[4:02] restoring American
[4:05] education is an initiative by
[4:07] the Wisconsin institute for Law
[4:08] and Liberty designed to engage
[4:11] parents, school board members
[4:12] and teachers by giving them an
[4:13] understanding of the concerns
[4:15] and trends in education while
[4:17] providing model school board
[4:19] policies and other resources to
[4:21] produce positive change at the
[4:24] local level re RAE has three
[4:27] main facets resources for
[4:29] parents resources for teachers
[4:30] and resources for school boards
[4:31] and then in Wisconsin we also
[4:32] have a school scorecard which
[4:35] gives grades to all of our
[4:36] school school districts in the
[4:37] state
[4:40] but through the restoring
[4:41] American education initiative
[4:44] will has done a lot of work with
[4:46] students and educators and
[4:48] families and have had an
[4:49] opportunity to hear their
[4:51] concerns about the issues that
[4:53] are actually affecting their
[4:56] schools and we here over and
[4:57] over again that student
[4:59] disciplining classroom
[5:01] management need to be priorities
[5:02] in schools
[5:04] so
[5:07] I'm here to talk to you today
[5:09] about how to confront classroom
[5:10] disruption and teacher burnout.
[5:13] but first I wanted to share why
[5:15] you should care about those
[5:17] things. So first and foremost we
[5:21] have a nationwide teacher
[5:21] shortage.
[5:24] research shows that in2026 there
[5:27] were tens of thousands of
[5:29] teaching positions left unfilled
[5:31] across the country and those
[5:32] unfilled positions have actually
[5:32] increased in
[5:35] recent years specifically
[5:38] from2025. in the packets that
[5:39] you received from Representative
[5:42] Hall one of the things I have
[5:43] just so you know is citations
[5:45] for all of these studies that
[5:47] I'm about to cite and laws that
[5:48] I cite throughout the
[5:49] presentation they are not an
[5:51] alphabetical order they are in
[5:53] order of when I talk about them
[5:54] so one of the first ones that
[5:55] you'll see is is the study I'm
[5:56] referencing there
[5:59] so while there can be a
[6:02] multitude of reasons why
[6:03] teachers are leaving the
[6:05] profession. there are really two
[6:07] that stick out over and over
[6:08] again in all of the surveys that
[6:10] we see from across the country.
[6:13] Studentha and lack of
[6:14] administrative support
[6:17] In Wisconsin one of our
[6:19] state-based news organizations
[6:21] looked into exit surveys in
[6:23] the state's largest school
[6:25] district to see why these
[6:25] teachers were leaving.
[6:29] those exit surveys showed that 1
[6:31] in5 Milwaukee public school
[6:33] teachers cited personal safety
[6:36] or lack of support or respect as
[6:37] the reasons that they were
[6:38] leaving the school district.
[6:41] on a national level according to
[6:43] the2026 state of the American
[6:46] Teacher survey by ranND managing
[6:49] studenthavi was the top source
[6:52] of job related stress for over
[6:53] half the teachers that responded
[6:54] to the survey
[6:58] managing studentha actually came
[6:59] in 20 points above
[7:04] working additional hours
[7:06] outside of contract hours and
[7:09] pay so student behavior came in
[7:11] as more of a concern for more
[7:13] teachers than pay or than the
[7:15] hours that they're working which
[7:17] is what I know we hear a lot
[7:17] from teachers is is a primary
[7:18] concern
[7:22] to make matters worse, previous
[7:23] versions of this study have
[7:25] showed that almost half of
[7:26] teachers felt that
[7:29] administrators only sometimes or
[7:31] never enforced student codes of
[7:33] conduct and they didn't feel
[7:34] like administrators were backing
[7:34] them up when needed.
[7:38] in addition, the third
[7:39] annualerrimack College teacher
[7:43] survey found that only 18% of
[7:45] public school teachers were very
[7:46] satisfied with their jobs
[7:50] and teachers said that more
[7:51] support for student discipline
[7:53] related issues would actually
[7:54] improve their mental well being
[7:59] so based on those studies we
[8:00] know four things
[8:04] overall teachers are not
[8:04] satisfied with their jobs
[8:09] the top reported stressor job
[8:10] stressor with student behavior
[8:12] coming in above pay and working
[8:15] hours. Teachers do not feel
[8:15] supported by their
[8:17] administration and therefore
[8:19] teachers are leaving the
[8:20] profession and there's a
[8:21] national school or teacher
[8:22] shortage
[8:25] as if a teacher shortage isn't
[8:27] bad enough with classroom sizes
[8:28] among other issues
[8:33] lack of good consistent teachers
[8:35] greatly affects student learning
[8:37] outcomes. national data shows
[8:39] that 12th grade math scores have
[8:40] fallen to their lowest levels
[8:43] since the national assessment of
[8:45] educationalgress or the NAP has
[8:46] begun in2005.
[8:49] and right here in Oklahoma only
[8:51] about 1 in4 students scored
[8:53] proficient or advanced on state
[8:55] reading and math for
[8:57] the202425 school year and I
[8:58] think you guys will be getting
[9:00] new data on that in december or
[9:00] around then
[9:03] but without consistent and
[9:05] reliable educators these
[9:07] proficiency scores are not going
[9:08] to get better
[9:13] so Will saw these reports about
[9:15] teacher shortages about student
[9:16] proficiency and teacher
[9:18] dissatisfaction and decided to
[9:21] dig a little bit deeper. We
[9:22] connected with dozens of
[9:24] teachers across the idwest to
[9:25] get their stories on student
[9:28] behavior administrative support
[9:31] and teacher burnout. Of these
[9:33] teachers a few mostly who have
[9:35] moved on from public school
[9:36] either by teaching in private
[9:37] schools or who have left the
[9:38] profession altogether
[9:41] we're willing to tell their
[9:43] stories on camera. The result is
[9:45] this mini documentary called
[9:47] Classrooms andrisis. it's only
[9:49] about7 minutes long so
[9:51] hopefully there won't be any
[9:53] tech issues and we can play it
[9:54] for you in full so that you can
[9:55] hear the stories of these
[9:57] teachers from them themselves.
[10:04] I was crouched down helping
[10:05] another student who was working
[10:07] on the floor and she came up and
[10:08] pushed me from behind. you know
[10:09] these are kids we want to
[10:11] forgive them and I'll you know
[10:13] allow them to come back in
[10:15] that's really hard to then let
[10:17] them come back in when we all
[10:18] sort of felt unsafe
[10:21] rze for help inside a Milwaukee
[10:23] public school as chaos
[10:25] unfoldeder innosha wo middle
[10:27] school students arrested for
[10:28] making threats at Kenosha
[10:30] schools two teachers coming
[10:31] forward tonight with safety
[10:33] concerns about their jobs some
[10:34] parents say they're afraid to
[10:35] send their kids to school and
[10:36] want change
[10:44] Wisconsinducation we have
[10:45] noticed a concerning trend the
[10:47] number of teachers willing to
[10:49] work in public schools is going
[10:51] down.est scores are going down
[10:53] but the incidence of behavior
[10:55] issues and classroom disruptions
[10:56] and safety concerns are going up
[10:59] think for teachers that is the
[11:00] biggest
[11:03] struggle having to try and
[11:05] figure out what to do with these
[11:07] behaviors that maybe they
[11:09] don't even understand within
[11:10] their classroom
[11:15] as a teacher it isn't fair for a
[11:17] child to see me get blatantly
[11:19] disrespected time and time again
[11:20] and your good kids eventually
[11:21] shut down and have a hard time
[11:23] because they don't want to see
[11:24] their teacher being disrespected
[11:27] but you ask any teacher when
[11:29] they go home what really gets
[11:30] under their skin it's when they
[11:31] told a student to sit down and
[11:32] the student looked at them and
[11:32] said
[11:33] no.
[11:35] and went and sat elsewhere
[11:36] because what does that
[11:37] communicate to the teacher it
[11:38] communicates you're not worthy
[11:38] of respect.
[11:45] while there were many teachers
[11:46] that didn't want to share their
[11:47] names their schools or even be
[11:50] on camera which really speaks to
[11:52] the larger issue here they don't
[11:53] feel comfortable speaking out.
[11:55] Many others were willing to come
[11:56] forward and share their story
[11:57] with us.
[11:58] there has been a
[12:01] a pretty deliberate effort on
[12:02] the part of administration and
[12:06] districts as a whole to reduce
[12:08] suspensions and to reduce
[12:10] disciplinary incidents and
[12:12] that's for the purpose of being
[12:13] able to show data to
[12:15] media and
[12:17] decision makers that
[12:21] the situation is improving but
[12:23] when they would tell us not to
[12:24] report certain behaviors
[12:28] it would kind of undermine us as
[12:29] teachers we would feel as though
[12:31] then we are setting the
[12:33] precedent that that's acceptable
[12:34] in our classrooms
[12:38] administration it is absolutely
[12:40] their job to deal with these
[12:41] behaviors that's why we have
[12:43] deans of students that's why we
[12:45] have vice principals if it was
[12:46] 100% up to the teachers then go
[12:47] ahead and get rid of those
[12:47] positions and give me their
[12:48] salary.
[12:51] think there does need to be some
[12:53] transparency in here are the
[12:55] policies here are the procedures
[12:57] here's what we're doing for
[12:58] teachers to help and empower
[12:59] them to do better how
[13:03] I think without administrative
[13:05] supporthas can't get better
[13:06] until you have
[13:10] things in place to deal with the
[13:11] behavior at hand otherwise all
[13:12] learning is going to stop
[13:16] just teaching these teachers are
[13:18] the disciplinarians they are the
[13:19] ones that are in charge of
[13:22] maintaining their classroom and
[13:24] and maintaining an environment
[13:27] that's conducive to learning
[13:29] but when you have the backup of
[13:30] the administration and the
[13:33] higher ups it makes that job
[13:35] that much more palatable and
[13:37] easier to do sending a kid back
[13:39] to class immediately after
[13:40] they've been kicked out
[13:42] it's probably the single most
[13:45] detrimental practice that an
[13:47] administrator can carry out to
[13:48] undermine a teacher's authority
[13:55] have had to intervene in fights
[13:57] several times one of the the
[13:59] common aspects of the fights
[14:01] that occur in the schools is
[14:03] it's usually not just one
[14:03] student fighting another
[14:04] student. these are often
[14:06] multiple students
[14:09] getting up on one student or
[14:10] multiple students fighting
[14:11] multiple students have had to
[14:14] intervene many times and have
[14:16] been injured before doing so
[14:19] that can be a huge problem and
[14:21] you get enough of those kids
[14:23] that are doing that type of
[14:24] stuff and there's no
[14:25] consequences for it nobody's
[14:27] held accountable for it it's
[14:28] easy to lose control of a class.
[14:32] situations where you know we're
[14:33] kind of told well that's
[14:34] cultural you know they fight
[14:35] they swear they you know we
[14:37] can't really do that that's you
[14:38] know that you just have to
[14:39] accept that that's the way that
[14:41] is that's how they were raised
[14:43] well no because someday they're
[14:45] going to graduate high school
[14:46] and the police department is not
[14:48] going to ask for an IEP they're
[14:49] not going to ask how they were
[14:51] raised and so if these kids
[14:51] aren't learning these
[14:53] consequences now they're going
[14:54] to learn in a really
[14:57] not great way once they leave
[14:58] high school
[15:04] is hosting a series of fairs to
[15:07] fill the gap of a major teacher
[15:08] shortage the district has at
[15:08] least 85 teacher vacancies
[15:19] it was like trying to be a
[15:19] positive role model for them
[15:24] but when you get called bad
[15:26] words all the time for months I
[15:27] just couldn't take it anymore my
[15:29] mental health it wasn't doing
[15:31] very well my health physically
[15:34] wasn't doing well. I mean I was
[15:37] even like losing hair so when I
[15:37] was teaching there were times
[15:38] where I felt like
[15:41] I just was being incredibly
[15:43] ineffective we're not
[15:44] superheroes right we don't have
[15:45] special powers you can only do
[15:48] as much as you can in a24 hour
[15:49] day.
[15:56] we actually saw from a report
[15:58] gathered on exit surveys from
[16:00] Milwaukee public schools that a
[16:02] top reason that teachers are
[16:03] leaving the profession in
[16:05] general is because of personal
[16:08] safety concerns this is not a
[16:08] theoretical threat
[16:13] left public school and took a
[16:15] huge pay cut to go to private
[16:16] school because
[16:20] the environment is drastically
[16:21] different. all of the surveys
[16:22] that I've seen
[16:25] have put behavior as the number
[16:26] one reason that teachers
[16:27] consider leaving the classroom
[16:29] it's above stress it's above pay
[16:31] it's above politics and we're
[16:33] helping these kids and what
[16:34] we're doing is hurting them
[16:35] every time that we allow a
[16:38] student to act inappropriately
[16:40] to be disrespectful to break the
[16:42] law and and to not hold them
[16:43] accountable we think we're being
[16:46] kind it is it is the worst form
[16:47] of abuse because we are not
[16:48] preparing them for adulthood
[16:50] if nothing changes we are going
[16:50] to
[16:55] deal with the negative outcomes
[16:57] of students being uneducated
[16:59] students going to school and
[17:01] learning that school is not a
[17:04] place where they can gain skills
[17:05] and knowledge that's going to
[17:07] help them feel like for teachers
[17:09] to feel supported in public
[17:11] schools teachers need to feel
[17:12] backed up
[17:14] by parents administration
[17:18] nothing happens teachers will
[17:21] continue to leave the profession
[17:23] which will be a huge disservice
[17:24] to students across the state of
[17:26] Wisconsin. we need to feel like
[17:28] we are safe when we go to work
[17:30] we need to feel like children
[17:33] are safe not only do we feel so
[17:35] much pressure we just know that
[17:36] it's almost
[17:39] impossible to get to where they
[17:41] want these kids to be or to get
[17:43] these schools to where they want
[17:44] to be because
[17:47] the the big problem is not being
[17:48] dealt with
[18:03] Cool so as I've already
[18:06] alluded to both in the video and
[18:09] earlier today there were many
[18:10] more teachers who were not
[18:13] comfortable being on camera.
[18:15] I mean you can see on the screen
[18:16] here and you saw in the
[18:17] documentary this gentleman was
[18:19] blurred out and his voice was
[18:21] changed because he still works
[18:23] in a public school and felt like
[18:25] he couldn't talk about an issue
[18:27] that he's experiencing right now
[18:28] he can't criticize his
[18:28] administration because he'
[18:33] ll face retaliatory measures
[18:37] so it's it's unfortunate that
[18:39] really we have a hard time
[18:40] getting teachers to come forward
[18:41] and actually talk about these
[18:43] experiences that they're facing
[18:45] because they're so afraid of
[18:46] what's going to happen to their
[18:46] jobs
[18:51] I interviewed many teachers that
[18:52] were not willing to be on camera
[18:52] at all.
[18:55] and I wanted to share a few
[18:58] of those statements that those
[19:00] other teachers made during our
[19:02] interviews because I I think
[19:03] they're just as powerful as some
[19:05] of the ones that you just heard
[19:07] in that documentary from people
[19:07] who were willing to be on camera
[19:13] so the teacher said so I can
[19:14] tell you what I've witnessed in
[19:16] elementary school in the
[19:19] hallways students screaming
[19:20] running down the hallways
[19:22] kicking garbage cans screaming
[19:24] from the top of their lungs in
[19:26] the classroom and then staying
[19:28] in school and being allowed to
[19:29] continue disrupting everyone
[19:31] else's learning and the teacher
[19:32] being very frustrated because
[19:33] they don't have any power to
[19:35] help that student make a better
[19:37] choice so the student continues
[19:40] and the students they know that
[19:42] they have the power they know
[19:44] that there's no consequence and
[19:45] they know they can do whatever
[19:47] they want and eye witnessed that
[19:49] so I followed up with a question
[19:51] I said when you say that
[19:53] teachers didn't have the power
[19:55] to deal with that behavior? Is
[19:56] that because the administration
[19:59] didn't allow you to or why do
[20:01] you say that and the teacher
[20:02] responded saying because
[20:04] nothing was ever done so if they
[20:06] would call for support support
[20:07] might come they'd take the child
[20:08] but the
[20:11] child would come back in one
[20:12] minute and they'd continue the
[20:14] behavior so nothing happened.
[20:15] there was no change that
[20:16] happened by calling for support.
[20:21] Another teacher said and the
[20:24] teacher blaming is just insane
[20:24] terrible
[20:27] well ok here's a perfect
[20:29] example. I have a first grader
[20:31] and I teach second grade but we
[20:33] have a 1st grader who I mean
[20:35] literally destroys my
[20:36] colleague's classrooms
[20:38] she had another student that
[20:38] stabbed her in the arm this
[20:39] year.
[20:42] she has got her hands full with
[20:43] behavior, multiple behaviors in
[20:44] this classroom
[20:47] and of course the administrators
[20:49] blame her. They say she's being
[20:51] too negative. it's been horrible
[20:53] as a JEA rep which is like a
[20:56] teacher union representative
[20:57] I've had to step in numerous
[20:59] times just to keep her going
[21:01] because she was so depressed she
[21:02] would come to school with her
[21:04] hair grey. I mean she just looks
[21:05] like somebody was whipping her.
[21:08] She just hates it. she wants to
[21:09] quit. I don't think she'll be
[21:11] back next year. I really don't.
[21:13] I think she wants out she's
[21:14] applying out of
[21:17] education and I can't blame her
[21:19] either. There's6 teachers in
[21:19] this building that are talking
[21:21] about not coming back to
[21:23] education in general, not just
[21:24] the school but they want out
[21:24] completely.
[21:31] Another teacher said he would
[21:33] talking about a student then
[21:35] come at me just passing him in
[21:35] the hall like he's gonna hit me
[21:39] so of course I was very tough.
[21:40] you know I'm like don't you
[21:42] dare. I will call the police
[21:45] which I was told you can't call
[21:47] the police but I know that if a
[21:49] child hits you, I don't think
[21:51] they'll do anything that's the
[21:53] sad thing but by the law I can
[21:54] call the police but our admins
[21:55] are telling us we can't
[22:00] Another teacher said I mean I
[22:01] had incidents where I had a
[22:03] student throwing objects at
[22:06] myself throwing objects at other
[22:08] students and I would call you
[22:09] know we were expected to call
[22:11] administrators when that would
[22:13] happen and there were times I
[22:13] would call and nobody would
[22:15] answer. There were times I would
[22:17] call and I would be told nobody
[22:18] is available to come get the
[22:18] child.
[22:21] there were times when I when I
[22:23] would call and the child would
[22:25] come and be removed only to be
[22:28] returned you know5 minutes later
[22:31] still just as disregulated. It
[22:31] got to the point where I was
[22:33] like, well you know they're
[22:35] hitting me but they're not
[22:36] hitting other students
[22:39] I'm not gonna call because I
[22:40] don't feel like I always got the
[22:40] support when I called.
[22:45] and then I have this one as well
[22:47] and now this is the last one I'm
[22:48] going to read off but I think
[22:50] it's a a very powerful one. This
[22:51] comes from a teacher who left
[22:53] teaching to be in the air
[22:54] forcece. she ended up serving in
[22:57] Iraq and she said I'll tell
[22:59] you the reason I left public
[23:01] school is because I felt safer
[23:02] in a war zone than I felt in
[23:02] public school.
[23:06] oh and now we got a loading
[23:07] symbol maybe
[23:15] so I'm gonna get more into
[23:15] the Wisconsin Teacher bill of
[23:18] rights in a second in a few
[23:19] minutes I should say but I
[23:21] wanted to share what one of
[23:23] thewisconsin senators said
[23:25] during the floor vote this year
[23:26] on that bill
[23:37] there are teachers who
[23:51] there are teachers who are
[23:53] getting broken arms. I know some
[23:55] couldn't be me
[24:02] because when you break my arm
[24:03] everything is off the table
[24:07] but um'm I'm I'm just saying
[24:09] that we want to make sure that
[24:11] the schools have the resources
[24:12] that they need in order to do
[24:15] what is a very sensible idea
[24:21] there I wanted to share her
[24:23] testimony specifically because
[24:24] she is a democratic senator from
[24:27] Milwaukee and there's not a
[24:30] whole lot that theubs and the
[24:31] Democrats and the Wisconsin
[24:33] senate agree on but one of the
[24:35] things is that this is sensible
[24:37] this this discussion about
[24:38] school discipline is sensible
[24:40] and she also has personal
[24:41] experiences with people that she
[24:44] knows who had their arms broken
[24:44] in the classroom.
[24:47] that's ok
[24:58] right
[25:00] oh here I can
[25:01] I'll scroll to the
[25:03] maybe hopefully
[25:19] not sure
[25:21] yeah
[25:23] for sure
[25:26] ch n ology is fun isn't it
[25:35] OK so I really I I think it's
[25:37] important that we took the time
[25:37] to go through teacher
[25:39] experiences and really highlight
[25:40] why
[25:42] this is so important and you can
[25:43] actually hear it from teachers
[25:44] who are in the field talking
[25:45] about it
[25:48] but how do how did we get here
[25:49] because I'm sure some of you are
[25:51] thinking this is not what it was
[25:52] like when I was in public school
[25:55] I'm an older enz and it
[25:57] wasn't even this bad when I was
[25:58] in school maybe a little towards
[26:00] the end but really for the
[26:02] most part it was it it wasn't
[26:05] this bad so a lot of this
[26:08] stems from federal regulations.
[26:10] One of the regulations at issue
[26:13] here is Title6. Title6 itself is
[26:14] very very sensible and most of
[26:14] you
[26:16] are probably familiar with it
[26:19] Title6 of the Civil Rights Act
[26:22] of 1964 prohibits discrimination
[26:25] on the basis of color, race and
[26:27] national origin in programs and
[26:28] activities that receive federal
[26:29] financial assistance. This
[26:31] applies to both public and
[26:33] private schools and Title6
[26:35] ensures that no one is excluded
[26:37] from participation in or denied
[26:39] the benefits of or subject to
[26:41] discrimination under any
[26:43] educational program or activity
[26:46] based on race. The problem is
[26:47] during the Obama and Biden
[26:49] administrations the Department
[26:51] of Education passed guidance
[26:53] that required schools to
[26:55] discriminate on the basis of
[26:57] race, particularly as it rates
[26:58] relates to student discipline.
[27:03] this it there was a huge shift
[27:05] away from issues and
[27:06] consequences more towards
[27:09] restorative justice as a mindset
[27:11] so in the summer of2011, the
[27:13] Obama Department of Education
[27:15] and department of justice
[27:17] launched the supportive school
[27:19] discipline initiative in order
[27:21] to combat increased discipline
[27:25] of students then in January2014
[27:26] the Obama administration
[27:27] released a dear colleague letter
[27:28] on the nondiscriminator
[27:30] y administration of school
[27:30] discipline
[27:33] in this letter the Obama
[27:35] Department of Ed strongly
[27:37] recommended that schools shift
[27:38] interventions shift to
[27:39] interventions like conflict
[27:43] solution restorative practices
[27:45] counseling and structured
[27:46] systems of positive
[27:48] interventions. The reason for
[27:51] this shift was because quote an
[27:53] increasing number of students
[27:54] were losing important
[27:55] instructional time due to
[27:57] exclusionary discipline. the
[27:59] increasing use of disciplinary
[28:00] sanctions such as in schoolol
[28:01] and out of schools
[28:03] us p ens ions expulsions or
[28:05] referrals to law enforcement
[28:07] authorities creates a potential
[28:09] for significant negative
[28:11] educational and long term
[28:13] outcomes and can contribute to
[28:15] what has been termed the quote
[28:16] school to prison pipeline.
[28:19] the letter cited data that said
[28:21] students of certain racial or
[28:22] ethnic groups tended to be more
[28:23] disciplined than their peers
[28:25] because of this the Oama
[28:27] department of Education promised
[28:29] to begin investigating schools
[28:31] on race neutral discipline
[28:34] policies that were implemented
[28:37] evenhandedly and that is a
[28:39] direct quote from the letter but
[28:41] these policies had a desperate
[28:43] impact ii a disproportionate and
[28:45] unjustified effect on students
[28:46] of a particular race
[28:49] and so for the next decade they
[28:51] investigated schools who had
[28:55] race neutral evenhandedly
[28:56] implemented school discipline
[28:59] policies as being racially
[28:59] discriminatory.
[29:04] then in2023 during the Biden
[29:06] administration another dear
[29:09] colleague letter was released on
[29:10] discipline essentially doubling
[29:13] down on the Obama era guidance
[29:14] and arguing that such
[29:16] discrimination in discipline was
[29:17] an ongoing problem.
[29:19] how
[29:21] the examples cited in this memo
[29:23] rely on investigations that were
[29:25] prompted primarily and sometimes
[29:27] exclusively on disparate impact
[29:31] rather than a specific event of
[29:32] intentional discrimination
[29:35] in other words discriminatory
[29:37] impact is inferred where there
[29:39] is a neutral policy or practice
[29:41] or sometimes just a results
[29:43] of the effects of one racial
[29:45] group affecting one or more one
[29:47] racial group more than another.
[29:49] so this is different from
[29:52] intentional discrimination which
[29:53] in this context would mean
[29:55] harsher punishments or higher
[29:57] rates of disciplinary actions
[30:00] imposed because the disciplinary
[30:01] authority was making decisions
[30:02] about
[30:04] imposing discipline and p
[30:07] punishment based on the race of
[30:09] students that's not what
[30:10] disparate impact is this that
[30:13] that would be an example of
[30:15] actual discriminatory practices
[30:16] that need to be investigated
[30:17] under Title 9.
[30:21] so what's the result of this
[30:22] Obama and Biden era guidance.
[30:27] schools that had completely race
[30:29] neutral policies on discipline
[30:31] began enforcing discipline less
[30:34] and less to avoid investigations
[30:34] from the federal government
[30:39] and we saw just that so when
[30:41] this guidance was passed, Will
[30:43] was immediately concerned for
[30:45] two reasons. First, this
[30:46] guidance encouraged
[30:48] discrimination rather than
[30:49] prevented it. schools
[30:51] implemented race conscious
[30:53] policies such as disciplining
[30:55] students differently based on
[30:59] their race and then we're at
[31:01] risk of liability for actually
[31:03] violating Title6. Remember
[31:05] Title6 ensures that no one is
[31:06] excluded from
[31:07] participation in or denied the
[31:09] benefits of discrimination under
[31:11] any educational program or
[31:13] activity receiving federal
[31:13] financial assistance based on
[31:14] race.
[31:17] and the second thing we were
[31:19] concerned about is that efforts
[31:21] to close these disparities
[31:24] actually led to students having
[31:26] a wider latitude for behavior
[31:27] that did more harm than good
[31:31] so we actually ended up
[31:33] releasing a series of studies on
[31:37] this In2017 well released feds
[31:39] in the classroom the impact of
[31:40] the Obama administration's
[31:42] discipline policy on Wisconsin's
[31:45] public schools this study found
[31:47] that suspension rates in
[31:51] Wisconsin schools fell41% after
[31:52] the Obama guidance was issued
[31:55] but that concerns about school
[31:56] safety started to rise
[32:00] in this study we cite a st a
[32:03] survey that demonstrates that65%
[32:04] of teachers all the way back
[32:07] in2017 when this was released so
[32:08] almost a decade ago I know I
[32:11] can't believe it either
[32:13] but65% of teachers agree that
[32:14] these new approaches to student
[32:16] discipline were and are not
[32:16] working
[32:21] we also quote a Milwaukee public
[32:23] school teacher in this study who
[32:25] said in201f that students feel
[32:26] empowered to misbehave because
[32:29] their teachers are not allowed
[32:30] to take actions that will
[32:33] maintain control in the class.
[32:35] The teacher said quote there's
[32:36] nothing that's going to happen
[32:37] and the kids know it. The
[32:40] teacher says it's hard to keep
[32:42] order in the classroom when kids
[32:43] know there's going to be no
[32:45] consequence for misbehavior.
[32:47] it's a license for the other
[32:48] kids end quote
[32:51] then in2018 Will released
[32:53] another study that found that
[32:55] schools that implement more
[32:57] lenient discipline policies see
[32:59] higher rates of decline in their
[33:01] academic achievement both in
[33:05] reading and math so this isn't
[33:07] theoretical it is actually
[33:08] affecting student outcomes in
[33:08] these schools
[33:14] next in2021 will released a
[33:16] study called suspended Reality
[33:18] The Impact of suspension Policy
[33:21] on student safety. this study
[33:23] again confirmed that suspension
[33:24] rates as suspension rates
[33:26] declined, students reported
[33:28] feeling more unsafe in school.
[33:31] It demonstrated that lower
[33:33] suspension rates also did not
[33:35] necessarily mean improved
[33:36] behavior. there were still
[33:37] increased incidents of bad
[33:39] behavior. they just weren't
[33:39] actually being
[33:42] dealt with accordingly with
[33:42] suspensions or expulsions
[33:47] then after the2023 Bideden
[33:49] guidance was released well
[33:50] released a memo on what our
[33:51] guidance on what the guidance
[33:53] said and what it actually means
[33:54] for schools
[33:57] this memo reiterated our
[33:59] concerns and flagged for school
[34:00] districts that they are really
[34:03] in a lose lose situation on one
[34:05] hand, if they implement these
[34:08] race neutral discipline policies
[34:09] that unintentionally result in
[34:11] cer certain racial groups being
[34:13] disciplined more than others.
[34:14] The Biden administration could
[34:15] open an investigation into the
[34:17] district and for many schools
[34:19] across the country that was the
[34:21] reality. but on the other they
[34:23] implemented if they implemented
[34:23] race conscious discipline
[34:24] policies they would
[34:28] actually be violatingitle6
[34:30] which could also lead to an
[34:32] investigation so they were
[34:33] really kind of stuck between a
[34:35] rock and a hard place when it
[34:36] came to student discipline
[34:36] policies
[34:44] OK these concepts actually
[34:45] came up in our interviews with
[34:47] teachers as well. I spoke with
[34:49] several teachers directly that
[34:50] brought up the issue of racial
[34:53] discipline policies when
[34:54] interviewing one teacher she
[34:55] mentioned something about
[34:56] certain racial demographics
[34:57] being held to different
[34:59] standards so I asked I'm
[35:01] interested in something you said
[35:02] earlier about your time at
[35:03] Madison which is one of the
[35:05] school districts in Wisconsin.
[35:07] You mentioned that there seemed
[35:08] to be demographics of students
[35:09] certain races where there were
[35:10] more issues because
[35:13] they weren't facing consequences
[35:14] and that's something we've heard
[35:15] from teachers in the Milwaukee
[35:17] system who've said that the
[35:17] school is really afraid of
[35:19] skewing any statistics for
[35:21] consequences suspensions,
[35:23] expulsions that kind of a thing.
[35:25] do you think that's happening in
[35:26] Madison as well and the teacher
[35:29] responded saying exactly they
[35:31] have to report data and they
[35:31] don't want their data to show
[35:33] that certain races are getting
[35:34] expelled or suspended
[35:39] Another teacher said that
[35:41] students are discouraged from
[35:41] speaking out on this issue as
[35:43] well so not just teachers but
[35:44] students as well
[35:48] she said it's all optics because
[35:49] if learning is constantly being
[35:51] disrupted. these students aren't
[35:53] spending time actually doing the
[35:55] learning they're supposed to be
[35:56] learning you know they're not
[35:56] graduating ready.
[35:59] so it doesn't matter. it's
[36:02] really frustrating for kids. I
[36:03] mean kids will complain about it
[36:06] they're like we didn't do
[36:07] anything because so and so had
[36:10] their meltdown again today or so
[36:10] and so got in a fight
[36:13] but then they can't say that
[36:15] because they're told well you're
[36:17] just not being sensitive to kids
[36:18] with special needs or you're
[36:21] being racist. so they just kind
[36:22] of sit and say nothing
[36:27] Another teacher still said
[36:28] when we were discussing some of
[36:29] the statistics that were coming
[36:31] out of the school that he
[36:32] teaches in
[36:35] quote they don't want the stats
[36:37] because somebody will make it an
[36:38] idea that it's rationally
[36:41] racially discriminatory. very
[36:43] few people in public schools are
[36:45] bona fide you know racist or
[36:47] even unconsciously doing racist
[36:48] things it's just not true
[36:51] but the argument needs to be
[36:54] made that what our current
[36:55] system is is actually
[36:57] systemically racist because
[36:59] who's suffering when discipline
[37:00] is not being handled
[37:03] appropriately it's all the other
[37:04] kids who are there to learn.
[37:08] so I know I've thrown a lot at
[37:11] you but if you remember
[37:12] nothing else from this portion
[37:13] of the presentation I want you
[37:16] to remember three things. First,
[37:17] student behavior is a teacher
[37:20] retention issue. Teachers need
[37:21] administrators to back them up
[37:23] and good teachers when good
[37:25] teachers leave students pay the
[37:26] price
[37:30] 2 teachers feel like they have
[37:32] lost control of their classrooms
[37:33] calling for help does not always
[37:35] result in meaningful support or
[37:37] consequences. Some teachers are
[37:39] deciding that it's easier to
[37:41] leave the profession than it is
[37:42] to continue teaching under these
[37:42] conditions
[37:47] and three that Title6 prohibits
[37:49] racial discrimination and that
[37:51] principle is not the problem.
[37:53] The problem is federal guidance
[37:54] putting pressure on schools to
[37:55] reduce racial disparities in
[37:58] discipline even when facially
[38:01] neutral policies produced those
[38:03] disparities. Schools need to
[38:03] address student misconduct
[38:05] consistently without making
[38:07] disciplinary decisions based on
[38:10] race. So with that I'm going to
[38:12] pause if anyone has any
[38:12] questions on
[38:14] anything I've cited or stu yeah
[38:18] p re s ent ative mozoal you
[38:21] recognized thank you
[38:22] thank you for being here
[38:27] I wonder if you could point us
[38:29] to the studies that definitively
[38:30] prove
[38:31] that the
[38:35] the discipline issues which are
[38:36] real
[38:41] within our classrooms are a
[38:43] direct result of racebased
[38:44] policies
[38:47] having lived this
[38:51] in some of the toughest schools
[38:52] in our state I
[38:57] struggle to accept the
[39:00] correlation that you're creating
[39:03] based on my experience in our
[39:05] schools and so could you please
[39:07] talk about the the studies and
[39:08] and if you could
[39:09] avoid
[39:11] politics
[39:15] I would appreciate it absolutely
[39:19] so like I mentioned we'll
[39:21] actually released four studies
[39:22] that were primarily based on
[39:24] Wisconsin schools but
[39:27] nonetheless we're all based on
[39:30] policy that was implemented
[39:31] after this guidance was
[39:35] implemented so in Wisconsin the
[39:36] system that was largely
[39:37] implemented after this guidance
[39:39] came out was PBIS
[39:41] so these studies specifically
[39:44] looked at PBIS schools schools
[39:47] that had implemented PIS versus
[39:49] schools that didn't and compared
[39:52] both academic outcomes who
[39:55] was being suspended and when
[39:57] reports of safety concerns and
[39:59] the schools post this guidance
[40:02] that had implemented PBIs had
[40:04] greater issues with discipline
[40:07] policies academic outcomes
[40:09] among other things versus
[40:09] schools that did not
[40:13] implement PBIS so especially
[40:15] those first two feds in the
[40:16] classroom and collateral damage
[40:18] those specifically look at
[40:21] the correlation between this
[40:24] guidance and student outcomes
[40:26] and achievement and discipline
[40:27] policy. thank you what other
[40:29] factors were considered when you
[40:31] were completing these studies
[40:32] and how were these s studies
[40:32] funded
[40:35] funded
[40:37] well so we're a501c3 nonprofit
[40:39] organization our studies are
[40:41] completed by our
[40:45] research PhD on staff. many of
[40:48] them are peer reviewed and he
[40:49] would be able to better speak on
[40:51] the methodology of how that was
[40:53] actually completed I often
[40:55] say I'm just an attorney I don't
[40:59] do the math stuff but he is a
[41:00] great resource and I'd be happy
[41:01] to connect you with him if you'd
[41:02] like to know more about the
[41:02] methodology and exactly
[41:06] how he did that but all of
[41:08] our staff is are paid via
[41:10] donations so donations by who
[41:14] whoever wants to give to our
[41:17] organization thank you was
[41:19] the funding of these public
[41:21] schools or or does this also
[41:22] include private schools and
[41:23] discipline issues within private
[41:27] schools was the the funding
[41:29] stream flowing into these
[41:30] schools considered in these four
[41:33] studies yeah so there's it's
[41:33] a little bit harder to look at
[41:35] private schools on the whole
[41:37] because not all private schools
[41:39] accept federal funding so titles
[41:41] huh or students right they get
[41:42] to right
[41:43] well inwisconsin it's a little
[41:45] bit different we have a lottery
[41:47] system so if a student applies
[41:48] it's it's based on kind of first
[41:49] come first serve and we also
[41:53] have it's based on students s
[41:54] only students under a certain
[41:55] income threshold can apply for
[41:57] our our school choice program so
[41:59] a little bit different it's a
[42:00] little bit harder to examine
[42:01] because all public schools have
[42:03] to implement federal guidance
[42:05] not all private schools have to
[42:07] so it's just harder it's like
[42:08] apples to oranges to compare on
[42:08] that
[42:13] have a question too because what
[42:15] you've explained in I'm kind of
[42:16] interested in the second part of
[42:17] your presentation the what you
[42:19] explained really you showed me
[42:21] an administration problem in a
[42:24] federal regulation problem it's
[42:27] not necessarily necessary a lot
[42:28] of other areas those two right
[42:29] there made up make up most of it
[42:31] right there so I'm interested in
[42:32] seeing that are there other
[42:32] questions
[42:34] Representative Pall
[42:37] thank you Mr chairman as you all
[42:40] have looked at these types of
[42:42] issues what do you see as the
[42:44] the the lay of the land in
[42:45] the urban areas versus the rural
[42:47] is this a problem that spans
[42:49] both is it is it more in one
[42:51] than the other and and and
[42:53] we'll get into the solutions
[42:53] later but I guess as far as the
[42:55] problem do you see this as an
[42:56] isolated problem or a widespread
[42:58] problem? It is certainly a
[42:59] widespread problem. This is not
[43:01] isolated to just urban areas
[43:03] and in fact sometimes in rural
[43:04] districts districts
[43:07] we're seeing this more than
[43:07] anywhere else because teachers
[43:09] are already spread very very
[43:11] thin. they have less access to
[43:13] less teachers and less resources
[43:15] so they typically struggle a
[43:17] little bit more with some of
[43:18] this implementation and
[43:19] handling bad student behavior
[43:22] when it comes up urban schools
[43:23] across the country typically
[43:25] have more money and more
[43:27] students so while it's still
[43:29] a problem with them they do
[43:30] typically have access to more
[43:32] resources and then more
[43:33] federal funding especially if
[43:34] they are considereditle I
[43:34] schools
[43:37] but this is an issue everywhere
[43:39] it's an issue that doesn't just
[43:40] affect Wisconsin obviously
[43:41] that's why I'm here talking to
[43:43] you in Oklahoma today and
[43:46] this is something when we
[43:47] released our documentary we were
[43:49] getting international
[43:51] attention on it. this is
[43:53] something that was brought up
[43:55] by UK teachers unions as well on
[43:57] social media saying no this
[43:58] isn't even just a US problem.
[44:00] this is a this is a worldwide
[44:03] problem and to to the
[44:04] representative's points
[44:07] I will get into a little bit of
[44:09] how we solve these issues
[44:11] so you know we can we can move
[44:13] on to that if if nobody else has
[44:15] any other questions. one other
[44:17] thing I forgotten another it's a
[44:18] parenting problem to there's
[44:19] it's it's three pace
[44:20] represent rosecrants you have a
[44:20] question
[44:24] yeah thank you Mr chairir I'm
[44:26] sorry I missed part of this I
[44:27] talked to Representative Hall so
[44:28] I'm kind of up to date
[44:31] so I know you're talking about
[44:33] Obama and Biden era discipline
[44:35] policy. now it's not Obama or
[44:37] Biden it's Trump. Are we having
[44:39] the same issues or have things
[44:42] changed I will deep dive into
[44:43] that in just a moment. we do
[44:45] have new federal guidance
[44:47] that we have yet to see the
[44:49] effects of because that was just
[44:50] just put out August 18th of this
[44:50] year.
[44:55] there any other questions yes
[44:56] representative Parazano
[44:59] you want to circle back to the
[45:01] PBIs model and and do these four
[45:03] studies include an analysis of
[45:05] the PBIS how many schools were
[45:07] involved I am a former principal
[45:09] who implemented PBIS
[45:14] and had these wrapround services
[45:17] and and the experience that you
[45:19] portray is not the experience
[45:21] that we had but I do think
[45:23] it's a staffing issue I think
[45:25] it's a funding issue and so I
[45:27] wonder if you could point to the
[45:29] data that specifically targets
[45:31] PBIS as a cause
[45:33] for the discipline issues that
[45:35] that you say we have I mean I do
[45:36] agree discipline is an issue I
[45:37] think perhaps the approach is
[45:39] what I'm trying to wrap my head
[45:40] around yes and we'll definitely
[45:40] talk about
[45:43] the approach I think we'll
[45:43] probably agree more than we
[45:46] disagree on the approach but
[45:47] I encourage you to read the
[45:49] studies as we do go into an
[45:51] analysis on PBIS and I'm really
[45:52] glad that you had a good
[45:53] experience with it because I
[45:54] know that there are a lot of
[45:55] schools that didn't
[45:59] no more questions we'll go up in
[46:01] the second part of your
[46:01] presentation at this time
[46:07] right so
[46:13] we'll jump right in kind of
[46:14] answering your question.
[46:15] with this new administration so
[46:19] I wanted to start the solution
[46:21] section of this presentation by
[46:23] sharing some of the major
[46:25] federal law and guidance updates
[46:26] that will hopefully have a
[46:26] positive impact on this issue
[46:32] in december of2025, the US
[46:33] Department of Justice updated
[46:35] its regulations under Title6 to
[46:37] eliminate disparate impact
[46:39] policy. this means that the
[46:41] department of justice will only
[46:42] investigate schools where there
[46:45] is intentional discrimination
[46:48] so instead of situations where
[46:49] they have a completely race
[46:51] neutral evenly evenhandedly
[46:52] implemented policy
[46:59] then on July23,2026 following in
[47:02] the USDOJ's footsteps the
[47:03] current Department of Education
[47:06] announced it had also gone
[47:07] through a formal rulemaking
[47:10] process to rescind provisions of
[47:11] the federal regulations
[47:13] requiring disparate impact
[47:13] liability.
[47:17] and then finally on august
[47:19] 182026 the Department of Ed
[47:21] released a new dear colleague
[47:23] letter to explain the
[47:25] department's position to ensure
[47:27] schools across the country are
[47:28] able to fully comply
[47:30] and the letter starts off
[47:31] with a sentence that I just
[47:33] think really captures the heart
[47:35] of this issue. it says quote
[47:37] American students deserved the
[47:38] opportunity to learn in
[47:40] classrooms that are orderly and
[47:43] that schools are safe and free
[47:44] from race discrimination.
[47:48] so schools should have been
[47:50] on notice that such federal
[47:51] rulemaking and guidance was
[47:55] coming since about april of2025.
[47:57] that's when President Trump
[48:00] signed executive order 14,280
[48:03] titleds reinstating commonon
[48:03] Sense school discipline policies
[48:07] but as I've already highlighted,
[48:08] Will has been pretty clear that
[48:10] this disparate impact and race
[48:11] conscious student discipline is
[48:14] illegal and has been detrimental
[48:17] to students for years so if
[48:17] you're interested in how
[48:20] widespread this issue is groups
[48:21] like federalism in action have
[48:23] been looking at each individual
[48:25] school district across the
[48:26] country to see what their
[48:27] policies are with regard to
[48:29] school discipline and whether
[48:31] these schools have embraced race
[48:33] conscious disparate impact
[48:33] theory from the Obama and Biden
[48:37] er a presidencies federalism in
[48:39] actions investigation found more
[48:41] than600 school districts across
[48:45] 41 states are still practicing
[48:46] restorative justice and
[48:47] alternative discipline policies
[48:49] that are compromising the safety
[48:50] of students and staff alike.
[48:52] and in Oklahoma
[48:55] Oklahoma schools are not
[48:58] immune to this either just to
[49:00] name a few schools that have
[49:01] been flagged as having these
[49:03] disparate impact policies still
[49:05] in place even today
[49:07] federalism in action has
[49:09] flagged the Tulsa school
[49:10] district the Norman school
[49:13] district, Chickasaw Chickasha
[49:14] high school. I am so sorry
[49:15] hahaha the Enid school distric
[49:19] district Chickasha chicochey ok
[49:21] the Enid school district and the
[49:22] Bixby school district so if
[49:25] any of these schools are in your
[49:26] districts or communities that
[49:27] you represent it might be worth
[49:29] following up with them on
[49:30] school discipline policies and
[49:31] ensuring compliance with federal
[49:32] law
[49:35] Speaking though of state law
[49:39] there has been a push across
[49:41] the country by groups like
[49:43] will and teachers to pass
[49:44] teacher bill of rights laws
[49:47] states that have passed these
[49:50] laws include Alabama, Arkansas,
[49:53] Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee
[49:54] and Texas.
[49:57] and while there's scope and
[49:59] method vary a little bit by
[50:02] state mosts include teacher
[50:03] authority to remove students
[50:05] establishing administrative
[50:07] responsibilities after classroom
[50:10] removal, parent notification of
[50:11] significant disruption
[50:14] anti-retaliation teacher
[50:15] protections procedures for wind
[50:17] disruptive or violent students
[50:19] may be returned to class and
[50:20] student or parent appeals
[50:20] processes
[50:27] a similar type of bill was
[50:27] introduced in the Wisconsin
[50:29] legislature last fall. that
[50:33] wasabB614 aka the teacheracher
[50:35] bill of rights we were adopting
[50:37] that methodology and it
[50:39] passed the sconsin assembly on
[50:41] November 19,2025 and passed the
[50:42] Wisconsin Senate on February
[50:43] 11,2026 with bipartisan support
[50:49] between the time of the bill's
[50:50] passing and the governor's
[50:51] action will put out a series of
[50:54] the clip of clips from the
[50:56] documentary that you just saw to
[50:57] demonstrate how much this
[50:59] legislation was needed and as
[51:01] you already saw and heard from
[51:02] the clip from the senate hearing
[51:05] about what legislators thought
[51:07] of this bill this really was a
[51:08] bipartisan issue
[51:11] but despite all the support for
[51:13] this bill on March27,2026,
[51:15] governor Evers vetoed the
[51:17] legislation citing concerns
[51:19] about lack of adequate mental
[51:21] health and special needs
[51:25] supports but Will was very
[51:26] heavily involved in advocating
[51:27] for this bill so I wanted to
[51:29] highlight what was included in
[51:31] the Wisconsin bill of rights
[51:32] because I think it strikes a
[51:34] good balance between
[51:35] protecting students and staff
[51:37] without going so far as to cause
[51:38] additional problems for
[51:43] schools about enforcement so
[51:46] it does4 things primarily one
[51:48] disallow persistently disruptive
[51:50] or violent students from
[51:50] immediately returning to class
[51:55] two prohibits school boards from
[51:56] terminating or otherwise
[51:59] retaliating against teachers for
[52:00] removing students from class
[52:01] enforcing classroom rules
[52:03] reporting on safe conditions or
[52:05] disruptive behavior requesting
[52:07] assistance for student concerns
[52:09] or taking action to protect the
[52:10] safety of teachers or others
[52:14] require the parents of all
[52:15] affected students to be notified
[52:17] of disruptions or violent
[52:19] incidents and provided a
[52:21] mandamus action for parents who
[52:23] were not notified and then
[52:25] require school boards to adopt a
[52:27] policy on reasonable safety
[52:29] measures to address incidents
[52:30] that materially and
[52:31] substantially disrupt classroom
[52:33] instruction or compromise safety
[52:35] persistently disruptive
[52:39] students or violent incidents so
[52:40] from each of those I kind of
[52:40] want to go over why
[52:44] we think these are good
[52:45] solutions for states to consider
[52:49] we included a section on
[52:51] disallowing persistently
[52:53] disruptive or violent students
[52:55] from immediately being returned
[52:56] to class for a few reasons
[52:59] first we know that this greatly
[53:01] undermines teacher authority and
[53:03] teaches the children that if
[53:05] they misbehave they will get
[53:07] away with it with little to no
[53:09] consequences or in some cases as
[53:11] you saw in the video rewards for
[53:14] that behavior there were
[53:15] instances that teachers talked
[53:17] about where students would be
[53:20] given snacks, watch fun videos
[53:23] or like free time to play while
[53:25] they were supposed to be facing
[53:26] consequences for their bad
[53:26] actions.
[53:29] Second, if student behavior got
[53:31] to a point where a teacher
[53:33] needed to remove a student from
[53:35] class.learly the focus was not
[53:37] on learning in that classroom.
[53:39] the teacher had to take away
[53:41] class time from other students
[53:42] who are there to learn to
[53:44] reprimand the students and
[53:45] eventually send them to the
[53:47] office which takes away the
[53:49] opportunity for the other fif or
[53:51] so kids in that classroom to
[53:53] learn and prevents the teacher
[53:54] from accomplishing what they
[53:55] actually needed to get done that
[53:56] day.
[53:59] and third typically
[54:00] administrators typically have
[54:01] additional education and
[54:04] training on student managing
[54:05] student behavior. they're much
[54:07] better equipped to handle
[54:09] serious incidents of student
[54:11] behavior than a teacher who has
[54:13] many other students to handle at
[54:14] the exact same time.
[54:16] and then finally in the
[54:18] wisconsin bill we would have
[54:20] specifically required that
[54:21] students who had persistently
[54:23] disruptive behavior which was
[54:24] defined by the bill by a certain
[54:25] number of incidents in a certain
[54:28] amount of time or violent
[54:29] incidents in the classroom
[54:31] needed to be put on a behavior
[54:32] intervention plan or bip
[54:37] before they can actually
[54:38] return to class. we did not
[54:39] specifically define what needed
[54:41] to be included in a ipp because
[54:43] it should be something
[54:45] determined on a case by case
[54:46] basis based on the needs of the
[54:49] child but the idea is to root
[54:51] out the cause of the behavior
[54:53] instead of just you know pulling
[54:54] a student out and not actually
[54:55] addressing the underlying
[54:58] behavior. so for example if a
[54:59] student is acting out because
[55:01] they're hungry and don't have
[55:02] access to enough food at home a
[55:03] bbip could include offering that
[55:04] student
[55:06] breakfast at school so that
[55:06] they're not facing those issues
[55:11] or if a student is acting out
[55:12] because of the disability or
[55:13] special need then they would
[55:15] need to be evaluated for aniEP
[55:16] or IsP.
[55:21] so why include teacher
[55:24] protections inwisconsin we do
[55:25] have laws that give teachers
[55:28] pretty broad authority to manage
[55:29] their classrooms and I know
[55:31] that's also the case in federal
[55:32] law and here in Oklahoma.
[55:36] but at the same time we know
[55:37] that authority is not being
[55:39] respected by administrators or
[55:42] students so we feel as though
[55:44] it's necessary to be more
[55:46] specific about what authority
[55:49] teachers have in state law and
[55:50] that should help mitigate some
[55:53] of the problem so we want to
[55:55] ensure that schools are not able
[55:56] to tell teachers that they can't
[55:57] call for help, including calling
[55:58] 911.
[56:01] we want to ensure that teachers
[56:03] know that they can remove a
[56:05] student when necessary from a
[56:07] classroom. We want teachers to
[56:08] know that they can enforce
[56:11] consequences for poor behavior
[56:12] and we want teachers to know
[56:14] that they can report on safe
[56:15] conditions at school without
[56:16] fear of retaliation.
[56:19] we also think that this will
[56:21] help retain high quality
[56:24] educators and ensure that goods
[56:26] teachers are staying in schools
[56:26] to help students
[56:33] Another solution is notifying
[56:34] all parents when there are
[56:35] substantial or violent
[56:36] disruptions.
[56:41] so why do this first parents
[56:43] often don't know how big of an
[56:45] issue this actually is. During
[56:47] the course of our interviews
[56:49] with teachers that came up over
[56:50] and over and over again.
[56:53] inwisconsin it's actually the
[56:56] law that a parent of a student
[56:57] who is removed from class be
[56:59] notified that that student was
[57:00] removed but
[57:03] so it means that parents who
[57:05] have persistently disruptive
[57:06] students are well aware that
[57:09] that's happening but the
[57:11] other kids in the class those
[57:13] parents have no idea that this
[57:15] is happening on a regular basis
[57:17] so notification to all parents
[57:19] under certain circumstances can
[57:21] foster transparency and
[57:23] accountability between parents
[57:24] and schools for example
[57:27] if classes stopped for more than
[57:31] 10 or 1f consecutive minutes
[57:31] to deal with a persistent
[57:33] disruption or violent behavior
[57:36] all parents in that class would
[57:37] be notified that quarter of
[57:39] class time that day was wasted
[57:41] on managing student behavior.
[57:45] Another example when this could
[57:46] be appropriate is if there's a
[57:47] violent incident in class and
[57:49] you heard some of those in some
[57:50] of the testimony today that I
[57:50] included
[57:53] if a student is throwing
[57:55] chairs hitting the teacher or
[57:57] other classmates or threatening
[57:59] to do those things then the
[58:01] parents of the other kids in
[58:02] that classroom deserve to know
[58:04] what's going on because this
[58:07] is that their child is at risk
[58:07] their safety is at risk
[58:11] one important caveat to this
[58:13] parent notification piece is
[58:15] that personally identifiable
[58:17] information about a student
[58:19] cannot be included in the
[58:21] notification FerRA which is
[58:23] the family educational rights
[58:25] and rivacy actct would prohibit
[58:29] such a disclosure so instead the
[58:30] notice should be very very
[58:31] simple and to the point.
[58:33] somethingthing like class was
[58:34] stopped for 1 number of minutes
[58:35] today to deal with student
[58:37] disruption or class was stopped
[58:38] and evacu
[58:40] ated due to a violent incident
[58:41] today.neither of those
[58:43] notifications would violate
[58:44] federal law under FERPA.
[58:45] and then
[58:51] why require school boards to
[58:53] adopt a policy on this type of
[58:56] stuff. what are schools
[58:57] specifically needs to do to
[58:58] accomplish these things should
[59:01] be determined by on a district
[59:03] by district basis because
[59:04] different school districts have
[59:06] different needs so setting
[59:08] the main guidelines in state law
[59:09] and then allowing schools to
[59:11] kind of flesh out the details
[59:14] themselves ensures that the
[59:15] needs of each individual school
[59:16] district are being metres
[59:17] represent
[59:19] ative Hall brought up a great
[59:21] point about urban versus rural
[59:23] school districts those districts
[59:24] are going to have different
[59:26] needs so who's handling this
[59:27] behavior what the protocols are
[59:29] things like that can be a little
[59:31] bit different than based on what
[59:32] your school district needs
[59:36] not to mention having policies
[59:38] and procedures in place to
[59:39] address issues before they
[59:41] happen prevents inconsist
[59:44] inconsistent or ineffective
[59:46] administration and sets
[59:47] expectations for everybody
[59:48] involved
[59:52] and then the last solution I
[59:54] wanted to touch on has to do
[59:55] with ins teacher incident
[59:57] reporting this actually wasn't
[59:59] something included in the
[1:00:00] Wisconsin bill because it was
[1:00:01] brought to our attention after
[1:00:02] the bill had already been
[1:00:03] introduced but we still think
[1:00:06] it's a really good idea so other
[1:00:09] states like Indiana have laws
[1:00:11] requiring schools to keep track
[1:00:13] of when teachers are injured by
[1:00:15] students while acting in their
[1:00:18] official capacity will was
[1:00:18] actually contacted by
[1:00:22] a school board in indiana who
[1:00:24] had become aware of how big of
[1:00:27] an issue this was in their
[1:00:29] school district and how largely
[1:00:31] it was being underreported the
[1:00:32] teachers weren't being
[1:00:33] discouraged from reporting those
[1:00:37] incidents we actually worked
[1:00:38] with that school board to draft
[1:00:41] a model policy on what should be
[1:00:42] required for this type of
[1:00:44] reporting and then that
[1:00:46] expanded on what Indiana state
[1:00:48] law had which was just basic you
[1:00:48] have
[1:00:51] to report it and then the state
[1:00:53] SEA or state educational agency
[1:00:56] had to post the statistics of
[1:00:56] those injuries online.
[1:01:01] reliable reporting of these
[1:01:04] types of incidents can improve
[1:01:05] workplace safety, promote
[1:01:07] accountability and help ensure
[1:01:09] that decisions affecting the
[1:01:10] school climate are actually
[1:01:11] based on accurate information
[1:01:15] and not just anecdotally so
[1:01:17] in that model policy we talk
[1:01:19] about teachers have to report
[1:01:21] it here's how they report it and
[1:01:22] then the reports are presented
[1:01:23] to the school board so that they
[1:01:26] can make decisions about what
[1:01:27] needs to change in their school
[1:01:28] to ensure that
[1:01:29] teachers feel safe and feel
[1:01:30] heard.
[1:01:34] Speaking of model policies
[1:01:35] board policies is actually
[1:01:37] something that Will does as part
[1:01:39] of our restoring Americanation
[1:01:41] initiative and it often goes in
[1:01:43] hand hand in hand with state and
[1:01:45] federal law our policies are all
[1:01:48] free and available to download
[1:01:51] at school board policies.org
[1:01:53] and we actually already have 3
[1:01:55] model policies based on the
[1:01:57] solutions that I just went over
[1:01:59] that can be implemented in
[1:01:59] school districts in your
[1:02:00] community at any time
[1:02:05] they also have language that
[1:02:07] could be directly mirrored in
[1:02:09] any type of state law that is
[1:02:11] being considered across the
[1:02:12] country
[1:02:17] I wanted to kind of wrap up
[1:02:19] this solution section by talking
[1:02:21] a little bit about the law a big
[1:02:23] caveat that I have to give right
[1:02:25] at the top of this is that I am
[1:02:26] not an Oklahoma attorney. I am
[1:02:29] not board certified in Oklahoma
[1:02:31] and nothing in this section
[1:02:33] should be taken as legal advice
[1:02:35] you should confer with your
[1:02:37] legislative council on this
[1:02:40] but I did want to touch on it
[1:02:42] nonetheless on a federal
[1:02:42] level
[1:02:45] local school boards have broad
[1:02:47] discretion in the management of
[1:02:49] school affairs including teacher
[1:02:51] authority, classroom management
[1:02:53] and student behavior. this
[1:02:55] discretion has been recognized
[1:02:56] over and over again by thescon
[1:02:58] thewisconsin by the United
[1:03:01] States Supreme Court and
[1:03:03] you'll see on this slide a
[1:03:04] few examples of that language
[1:03:05] but my favorite actually comes
[1:03:07] from Tinker versus desmoines
[1:03:09] which is the case that has to do
[1:03:11] with the armbands at school if
[1:03:11] if any of you are familiar, I
[1:03:12] think it was protesting the
[1:03:13] Vietnam war
[1:03:17] and the supreme court in that
[1:03:19] case said quote the court has
[1:03:21] long emphasized the need for
[1:03:23] affirming the comprehensive
[1:03:25] authority of states and school
[1:03:26] officials consistent with
[1:03:28] fundamental constitutional
[1:03:31] safeguards to prescribe and
[1:03:31] control conduct in schools
[1:03:36] Oklahoma statutes mirror federal
[1:03:37] law in this way
[1:03:41] they allow school boards to make
[1:03:43] rules governing the board and
[1:03:44] the school system of the
[1:03:45] district and maintain and
[1:03:47] operate schools in the way the
[1:03:49] board deems best suited to the
[1:03:50] needs of that school district
[1:03:57] Federal law also allows teachers
[1:04:00] to undertake reasonable action
[1:04:02] to maintain order, discipline
[1:04:04] and appro and appropriate
[1:04:07] educational environment to that
[1:04:09] effect teachers cannot be held
[1:04:11] liable for harm caused by any
[1:04:13] act or omission if the actions
[1:04:15] were carried out in accordance
[1:04:18] with the law and in an effort to
[1:04:19] maintain control and order in
[1:04:20] the classroom.
[1:04:22] similarly
[1:04:27] inokklahoma no educational
[1:04:28] employee shall be liable for the
[1:04:29] use of necessary and reasonable
[1:04:31] force to control and discipline
[1:04:33] a student during the time the
[1:04:34] student is in attendance at
[1:04:37] school so again these laws
[1:04:39] all kind of mirror each other
[1:04:42] and go hand in hand and they're
[1:04:44] also the basis for a lot of the
[1:04:45] solutions that I just went over
[1:04:49] the solutions are just a lot
[1:04:50] more specific than kind of the
[1:04:50] broad general
[1:04:53] laws and protections that are
[1:04:56] already in federal and state law
[1:04:59] but as we know they don't go far
[1:05:01] enough obviously teachers are
[1:05:02] still leaving the profession.
[1:05:04] there's still disciplinary
[1:05:06] issues so what can we do to
[1:05:09] really strengthen that authority
[1:05:11] on a state level or on a
[1:05:12] school by school level
[1:05:17] One thing I did want to flag
[1:05:19] as was a concern that was raised
[1:05:20] during the course of
[1:05:22] deliberations on the Wisconsin
[1:05:23] Teacher bill of rights and that
[1:05:25] is the federal IDEA law or ID
[1:05:27] law that stands for individuals
[1:05:29] with disabilities inducation Act
[1:05:31] and it says that students with
[1:05:33] disabilities have the right to
[1:05:35] free and appropriate public
[1:05:36] education or fape.
[1:05:39] while there are certainly
[1:05:40] different procedures and
[1:05:41] consequences when it comes to
[1:05:44] managing student behavior
[1:05:45] especially if the student has
[1:05:49] aniEP or a504 plan we don't
[1:05:49] believe any of the solutions
[1:05:51] proposed in thewisconsin
[1:05:53] teacheracher bill of rights have
[1:05:54] and those are the ones that I've
[1:05:57] gone over today violate any
[1:05:59] laws that have to do with
[1:06:02] special education actually
[1:06:03] after the bill was proposed in
[1:06:05] Wisconsin an amendment was added
[1:06:06] to say just that that nothing
[1:06:09] in this section shall be
[1:06:11] construed to conflict with the
[1:06:13] federal IDEA law and such
[1:06:15] language could be appropriate
[1:06:17] when considering any state laws
[1:06:18] or school policies on this issue
[1:06:23] but with that I am opening it
[1:06:24] back up for questions on any of
[1:06:25] the solutions that I went over.
[1:06:29] I'm gonna start up a couple of
[1:06:30] questions and number one I'm
[1:06:30] gonna make a statement the
[1:06:31] chickashaa superintendent would
[1:06:33] be quite surprised he's on your
[1:06:34] list
[1:06:37] I know that school awful well I
[1:06:39] know the administration I know
[1:06:40] that school board I don't know
[1:06:41] where you get your names. I
[1:06:43] don't know what you qualified
[1:06:44] for but that's not happening in
[1:06:47] chickasha public schools so I'm
[1:06:49] gonna take exception to that and
[1:06:50] I hope that don't offend you on
[1:06:50] that
[1:06:53] one of the the next question and
[1:06:55] and so I don't I don't know this
[1:06:57] may be a kind of a joint
[1:06:58] question for you andpresentative
[1:07:01] Hall are y'all aware of any
[1:07:02] school in Oklahoma where a
[1:07:03] teacher cannot call the police
[1:07:09] that's a better question
[1:07:11] forpresentative Hall. I have
[1:07:12] examples obviously from across
[1:07:13] the country but none from
[1:07:15] Oklahoma specifically so you
[1:07:17] know that's part of your bill of
[1:07:18] rights that y'all did about
[1:07:19] where they could so that's it in
[1:07:23] and the other thing I see
[1:07:24] this and and maybe if I'm
[1:07:25] missing it and I was a
[1:07:28] teacher was both my parents were
[1:07:30] teachers so I kinda understand
[1:07:32] the school game a little bit
[1:07:32] but are you
[1:07:35] through what y'all try to
[1:07:37] passwisconsin because it didn't
[1:07:38] get signed into law but you got
[1:07:39] it you passed it through the
[1:07:40] house and senate did
[1:07:43] or you're saying now that you
[1:07:45] think the state ought take over
[1:07:47] the discipline in our schools?
[1:07:49] No definitely not and that's why
[1:07:51] one of the things in our
[1:07:53] legislation required schools to
[1:07:55] adopt policies rather than the
[1:07:57] state prescribing exactly what
[1:07:58] should happen in each individual
[1:08:01] school like I mentioned it's
[1:08:03] important that districts have a
[1:08:05] broad authority to set what they
[1:08:07] believe is most appropriate
[1:08:09] for their particular school
[1:08:10] district how they're obviously
[1:08:10] needs to
[1:08:13] be guardrails as well because
[1:08:15] teachers don't feel like their
[1:08:16] administrations are backing them
[1:08:18] up so it's all about balance
[1:08:19] right? You need something that
[1:08:21] says school boards can't
[1:08:23] retaliate against teachers for
[1:08:27] bringing up concerns but we will
[1:08:28] in our own district define what
[1:08:29] it means to substantially
[1:08:32] disrupt disrupt class time or we
[1:08:33] in our own district will decide
[1:08:35] what needs to be included in a
[1:08:37] behavior intervention plan and
[1:08:39] things like that so it is it is
[1:08:40] about balancing local and state
[1:08:41] authorities
[1:08:41] certainly.
[1:08:47] you
[1:08:49] representRosesecrantz I have got
[1:08:50] your name right all day long
[1:08:53] isn't it surprise you? you kind
[1:08:55] of butchered a little bit I I
[1:08:56] heard the end get in there
[1:09:01] thank you Mr Chair and I
[1:09:01] similar I'm I'm representative
[1:09:05] of Norman Public schools what
[1:09:07] what criteria was used to put on
[1:09:09] that list so it all has to do
[1:09:11] with the strategic plan so
[1:09:13] those schools were flagged by
[1:09:14] federalism in action
[1:09:15] specifically because in their
[1:09:17] strategic plan they mentioned
[1:09:19] restorative justice practices
[1:09:21] particularly hiring based on
[1:09:23] race to match the student
[1:09:25] population or specific student
[1:09:26] discipline policies
[1:09:29] thank you for that'll get with
[1:09:32] my office that we do have an
[1:09:33] office that looks into those and
[1:09:35] I'll I'll see if that's that's
[1:09:36] interesting it's interesting mix
[1:09:38] tooixby chickashay norman that's
[1:09:39] what really got my my que and no
[1:09:41] Oklahoma City and and Tulsa like
[1:09:43] what how did how did Oklahoma
[1:09:45] City I used to teach in Oklahoma
[1:09:46] City pretty sure we did
[1:09:49] restorative justice anyway it's
[1:09:49] not a comprehensive list to be
[1:09:51] clear but it's just some of them
[1:09:53] were flagged yeah so I guess my
[1:09:55] next thing you know hear about
[1:09:55] Bbiden you hear about Obama.
[1:09:56] what about what about Trump one
[1:09:57] or
[1:10:00] bush or bushjunior how were
[1:10:02] things changed from then to now
[1:10:03] so under the bush
[1:10:05] administrations this disparate
[1:10:07] impact was not implemented at
[1:10:09] all. This started back in2011
[1:10:11] during the Obama administration
[1:10:13] During Trump won there was an
[1:10:15] attempt to put a pause on this
[1:10:18] disparate impact the I
[1:10:20] believe it was Secretary McMahon
[1:10:23] or at the time maybe it wasn't
[1:10:24] McMahon oh
[1:10:29] I know who it is betsy DeVos yes
[1:10:31] there was a dear colleague
[1:10:31] letter saying that they were not
[1:10:33] going to enforce that regulation
[1:10:36] to my knowledge though there was
[1:10:37] not an official rulemaking
[1:10:39] process to actually repeal that
[1:10:40] guidance from the federal
[1:10:43] regulations but this
[1:10:45] administration Trump2.0 actually
[1:10:46] went through the rulemaking
[1:10:47] process to get rid of that
[1:10:47] guidance so it's a little bit
[1:10:49] different so we did have a pause
[1:10:51] for a couple years on the
[1:10:53] enforcement of looking into
[1:10:54] schools
[1:10:57] that had disparate impacts
[1:11:00] school discipline policies and
[1:11:00] again that means it was a
[1:11:03] racially neutral evenly applied
[1:11:05] discipline policy that happened
[1:11:07] to affect certain demographics
[1:11:08] of students more than others
[1:11:10] just statistically randomly
[1:11:10] but
[1:11:15] not specific intentional
[1:11:17] instances of discrimination
[1:11:20] but this is a much longer term
[1:11:21] solution to actually go through
[1:11:22] the rulemaking process and
[1:11:23] repeal it so that's why biden
[1:11:25] could go right back to to how it
[1:11:27] was under Bbiden yeah or under
[1:11:27] Obamau follow up
[1:11:32] thank you for that. I might
[1:11:33] have no no I got it
[1:11:35] so
[1:11:40] restorative justice we're we're
[1:11:41] hearing a lot of negatives
[1:11:43] towards it. as a former
[1:11:45] teacher I understand where
[1:11:47] you're coming from because and
[1:11:48] this is a statement and a
[1:11:50] question we just didn't have
[1:11:51] the staff we had we had a we had
[1:11:53] a revolving door we had a new
[1:11:55] administrator every time we
[1:11:57] tried PbS and PbS failed because
[1:11:59] pbs was something before that
[1:12:01] and so on and so forth so my
[1:12:02] question is are there any
[1:12:03] positives you can tell us about
[1:12:05] restorative justice because I
[1:12:05] know they're out there
[1:12:07] no absolutely so
[1:12:11] definitely I'm painting broad
[1:12:13] strokes today we're going over
[1:12:15] the basics right but
[1:12:16] obviously there are things that
[1:12:17] can be taken from restorative
[1:12:19] justice and and implemented hand
[1:12:22] in hand with good student
[1:12:25] consequences for bad
[1:12:27] behavior. so one of the examples
[1:12:29] that I gave earlier was
[1:12:31] student hunger that that is very
[1:12:32] much that comes from restorative
[1:12:33] justice you know we shouldn't be
[1:12:35] punishing students for acting
[1:12:37] out because they're coming to
[1:12:37] school hungry. that's not fair.
[1:12:38] they just don't have
[1:12:40] the food at home that they need
[1:12:43] but that doesn't give
[1:12:45] students the latitude to do
[1:12:46] whatever they want and take
[1:12:48] learning opportunities away from
[1:12:51] the other 98% of the class right
[1:12:53] so there needs to be a balance
[1:12:54] between student consequences and
[1:12:57] restorative justice so again one
[1:12:58] of the solutions that we kind of
[1:13:00] talked about is this behavior
[1:13:01] intervention plan where the
[1:13:03] student is removed which is that
[1:13:05] exclusionary disciplinary
[1:13:07] process but removed and then
[1:13:08] investigate
[1:13:09] they're they're gonna to
[1:13:10] investigate with the root cause
[1:13:11] of the behavior is cause it
[1:13:13] doesn't do students any good to
[1:13:15] just kick him out of class and
[1:13:17] do nothing about it. It doesn't
[1:13:17] so
[1:13:19] that's that's what I would say
[1:13:21] positive about sort of just real
[1:13:22] quick I will say we already have
[1:13:23] that in almost every district
[1:13:25] just being very
[1:13:27] honestpresentativeugiller you
[1:13:30] were up. Thank you so I don't
[1:13:31] know if you were able to hear
[1:13:33] the first presentation today on
[1:13:35] discipline that is unfortunate
[1:13:36] so
[1:13:39] you know what their main focus
[1:13:42] on was no one disagrees that
[1:13:44] discipline disciplining
[1:13:47] classroom disruption is a
[1:13:49] concern. The solution that you
[1:13:50] have provided doesn't provide
[1:13:53] direct services to students and
[1:13:54] when you first started this out
[1:13:56] it said more support for
[1:13:57] students and so
[1:14:02] for us we have you know
[1:14:03] ateddmmonublic schools they give
[1:14:05] the example they have one
[1:14:07] behavioral specialist for a high
[1:14:08] school and two middle schools.
[1:14:11] you know if they're having
[1:14:13] discipline problems they admin
[1:14:15] is in every IEP meeting. they're
[1:14:19] also overseeing new teachers you
[1:14:21] know and so we have a school
[1:14:23] system and I know you're not
[1:14:24] from Oklahoma so I'm trying to
[1:14:25] inform you because you've given
[1:14:27] us a lot of information on
[1:14:31] Wisconsin but we have a school
[1:14:34] system that while we have
[1:14:36] provided additional funds we
[1:14:37] have provided direct
[1:14:39] things that they have to do in
[1:14:41] the school and have it provided
[1:14:43] a real broad opportunity of
[1:14:45] addressing these big issues that
[1:14:47] you're talking about. I had a
[1:14:49] bill on school counselors like
[1:14:53] we need more and services so you
[1:14:54] know when the governor
[1:14:58] vetoed this bill. I think that
[1:15:00] was a direct request to say
[1:15:02] maybe you need more supports and
[1:15:03] so are you going back to
[1:15:05] Wisconsin to address that side
[1:15:06] of it in funding for those
[1:15:07] services.
[1:15:09] Sure when you say student
[1:15:11] supports can you give me an
[1:15:13] example exactly? but obviously
[1:15:14] you reference the behavior
[1:15:15] specialists and counselors so
[1:15:17] you just want more of them per
[1:15:20] student or what exactly mean we
[1:15:23] have so our my kid' school just
[1:15:24] added a and I don't know the
[1:15:27] term for it so more teachers
[1:15:28] would probably know but it's
[1:15:30] like a a certification that's
[1:15:33] now in our school district or in
[1:15:35] our school that we have not had
[1:15:36] before for discipline issues you
[1:15:38] know but I don't think that's
[1:15:39] available for all schools across
[1:15:43] the state and I know my
[1:15:43] concern for that is like well
[1:15:45] what service was cut to provide
[1:15:47] this disciplined service and
[1:15:49] that cause I don't think we had
[1:15:51] overflow of money to add
[1:15:53] additional support so each
[1:15:54] school would look different on
[1:15:54] what those I mean it could be a
[1:15:55] social worker
[1:15:57] we used to have embedded social
[1:15:59] workers that worked with DHS in
[1:16:01] every school when I started. I
[1:16:02] worked at the food bank and it
[1:16:04] was incredible to a question
[1:16:05] please
[1:16:07] so when there's a million and
[1:16:09] services for me you know that I
[1:16:11] would want to add but you know
[1:16:11] is that what y'all are going
[1:16:15] back for? Yeah so I think one of
[1:16:17] the things that needs to be
[1:16:19] considered is and again I'm
[1:16:20] going to keep coming back to
[1:16:23] this is balance we've seen
[1:16:24] across the country this is
[1:16:24] statistically accurate that
[1:16:27] more and more and more
[1:16:29] administrators are being hired
[1:16:32] than teachers and so while I
[1:16:34] think it's important that mental
[1:16:35] health services and special
[1:16:37] needs services and behavior plan
[1:16:39] or behavior specialists are
[1:16:41] available to schools as much as
[1:16:42] possible
[1:16:45] it is also true that
[1:16:47] administrators are hired at a
[1:16:49] much higher rate across the
[1:16:51] country in schools than teachers
[1:16:53] are even so those supports are
[1:16:55] increasing statistically
[1:16:58] speaking and the other thing I
[1:17:01] would note is that a lot of
[1:17:03] times this starts in the
[1:17:05] classroom and with teachers and
[1:17:06] this whole thing hinges on the
[1:17:07] fact that teachers don't feel
[1:17:09] supported by their
[1:17:11] administration they're saying
[1:17:12] that their administrators are
[1:17:12] telling them
[1:17:16] not to report these things not
[1:17:19] to handle student behaviors so
[1:17:20] at this point there also needs
[1:17:22] to be a conversation about how
[1:17:24] adding additional administrators
[1:17:26] may not solve all those issues.
[1:17:28] It also comes down to how
[1:17:29] teachers are being treated by
[1:17:31] administrations and their
[1:17:32] protections under state law
[1:17:37] former administrator here yeah
[1:17:41] I'm pretty offended I'm sorry
[1:17:47] you know so so in the decade
[1:17:47] plus before coming to the
[1:17:49] legislature I was a principal
[1:17:51] and and what really pops out to
[1:17:55] me is more administrators and
[1:17:57] teachers doesn't really ring
[1:17:57] true from a mathematical
[1:18:03] stance but I mean Ii ran
[1:18:03] buildings with very little
[1:18:07] support h 100 plus staff,700
[1:18:08] kids and me
[1:18:13] and in those years that I was an
[1:18:14] administrator the nature of my
[1:18:14] question
[1:18:17] every single year I cut my
[1:18:18] budget
[1:18:19] every single year
[1:18:21] because the money coming from
[1:18:23] the state or the money coming
[1:18:24] from the federal government was
[1:18:27] less and less to the point that
[1:18:29] I was doing a lot more with a
[1:18:33] lot less every single year and
[1:18:35] so it resonates with me as true
[1:18:37] that teachers don't feel
[1:18:39] supported because there were
[1:18:41] only so many administrators to
[1:18:43] go around my question to you is
[1:18:46] in Wisconsin what did you do to
[1:18:48] support administrators because
[1:18:49] my health started failing
[1:18:49] because
[1:18:51] there was one of me
[1:18:52] and
[1:18:57] and I heard
[1:19:01] I believe I interpreted what you
[1:19:02] said is like a lot of this is
[1:19:04] the fault of the administrator
[1:19:05] and I want to be very careful. I
[1:19:06] mean there are bad apples
[1:19:08] in in every profession that we
[1:19:09] have
[1:19:13] but the the defunding of our
[1:19:15] public schools did not happen
[1:19:16] overnight.
[1:19:18] and were crawling out of that
[1:19:21] slowly so for any bill of rights
[1:19:23] that we see for teachers I'm
[1:19:23] there and I'm with you because
[1:19:26] I'm servant leader and and good
[1:19:27] teachers make for successful
[1:19:29] students but when the
[1:19:30] administrator doesn't have the
[1:19:30] supports
[1:19:34] and that has to come in the form
[1:19:36] of funding I don't see how this
[1:19:37] is more than words on paper
[1:19:39] unless you wrap around this with
[1:19:43] higher quality supports and
[1:19:43] training for your administrators
[1:19:49] and more of them at the school
[1:19:51] level now we hear a lot of
[1:19:52] conversation about
[1:19:53] superintendents and service
[1:19:54] centers and and all and and
[1:19:56] staff salaries that stack there
[1:19:57] different conversation but
[1:20:03] my question to you and then to
[1:20:05] you if you bring forth this bill
[1:20:08] of rights what are you doing to
[1:20:09] make sure those things can
[1:20:12] happen and boy don't tell me we
[1:20:13] can do it with the money that we
[1:20:14] already have
[1:20:16] because you'll see more
[1:20:18] administrators leave that are of
[1:20:18] quality
[1:20:19] that do care
[1:20:23] and so I want to know what is
[1:20:25] happening in Wisconsin and have
[1:20:27] all the disciplinary issues
[1:20:29] dissipated but then I heard you
[1:20:31] speak about ways we can address
[1:20:32] the discipline issues that
[1:20:36] by George were positiveha
[1:20:38] intervention supports it worked
[1:20:39] in my school. These were
[1:20:41] positive behavior interventions.
[1:20:43] If a kid is hungry they're not
[1:20:44] going to learn but they'll
[1:20:44] certainly be a discipline
[1:20:45] problem
[1:20:46] and so
[1:20:50] what are we doing? what have you
[1:20:53] done and where iswisconsin now?
[1:20:55] Yeah, OK so let me try and pick
[1:20:57] that apart a little bit first
[1:20:59] and foremost I thank you for
[1:21:00] your work as a public educator
[1:21:02] and as a principal obviously
[1:21:03] it sounds like you did a
[1:21:05] wonderful job in your district
[1:21:06] maintaining a balanced budget
[1:21:08] and supporting your teachers so
[1:21:09] I don't want to come in here and
[1:21:11] say that all administrators are
[1:21:13] bad that's certainly not the
[1:21:15] case but I am here to advocate
[1:21:16] on behalf of teachers who have
[1:21:16] come to us
[1:21:20] dozens and dozens of teachers
[1:21:21] who've had really negative
[1:21:23] experiences not being supported
[1:21:25] in their schools and we can talk
[1:21:27] about what the root causes of
[1:21:30] that lack of support are I
[1:21:32] think conversations can be had
[1:21:33] about additional training I
[1:21:35] know there was a a a session
[1:21:37] right before this kind of on
[1:21:39] teacher training and
[1:21:39] effectiveness and things like
[1:21:41] that I I'm sure there are
[1:21:43] administrative trainings out
[1:21:45] there as well. as I mentioned
[1:21:46] most often administrators are
[1:21:46] already
[1:21:50] higher more educated than
[1:21:52] teachers are specially
[1:21:54] trained on some of this
[1:21:55] obviously that would vary state
[1:21:58] by state to a certain extent
[1:22:01] but I think the experience is
[1:22:02] positive experiences of good
[1:22:04] administrators doesn't negate
[1:22:05] the negative experiences of
[1:22:07] teachers unfortunately both
[1:22:09] of those things can be true at
[1:22:10] the same time.
[1:22:13] so that's kind of the first
[1:22:17] thing in terms of the PBIS
[1:22:19] statement that you made just a
[1:22:20] second ago. I think that goes
[1:22:23] back to my answer from the other
[1:22:25] representative earlier which
[1:22:28] is that PBIS alone did not help
[1:22:30] the at at least not inwisconsin
[1:22:32] in the studies that we had
[1:22:33] the same way because
[1:22:37] the actual consequences the
[1:22:38] student being removed from class
[1:22:40] and not being allowed back until
[1:22:42] the root cause was actually
[1:22:45] dealt with is is something
[1:22:47] that resulted in a lot of
[1:22:49] schools not implementing
[1:22:49] discipline in the way that it
[1:22:51] needed to be implemented
[1:22:54] obviously umhavis have gone up
[1:22:55] that is just statistically true
[1:22:57] safety concerns have gone up.
[1:22:58] Teachers are leaving the
[1:23:01] profession.udent behavior is the
[1:23:03] number one source of teacher
[1:23:03] stress. those things are all
[1:23:07] true so what I was saying is
[1:23:10] that a balance is necessary. you
[1:23:12] need to have good consequences
[1:23:13] for student behavior but they
[1:23:16] can be rooted in some positive
[1:23:17] supports that you've seen
[1:23:19] success with as well those
[1:23:19] things can both be true at the
[1:23:20] same time.
[1:23:23] I think you you hit it on the
[1:23:25] nail on the head no one thing is
[1:23:27] going to fix it all and I think
[1:23:30] a teacher's bill of rights looks
[1:23:32] pretty on paper but where are
[1:23:33] the supports that come with it
[1:23:35] for teachers but then when
[1:23:36] you're putting the
[1:23:37] responsibility on an
[1:23:39] administrator rightly so where
[1:23:41] are the supports for that
[1:23:43] administrator and and so what
[1:23:45] I'm asking you is I mean again
[1:23:47] you're right no one thing but if
[1:23:49] you're going to add to the plate
[1:23:49] of an administrator who
[1:23:53] is required by law to notify
[1:23:54] police anytime there's anything
[1:23:55] here in the state of Oklahoma
[1:23:56] that's law now
[1:23:59] that's a good thing where are
[1:24:00] the supports for the
[1:24:01] administrator and I think what I
[1:24:02] heard is
[1:24:05] your opinion is we have
[1:24:05] everything we need there's no
[1:24:06] need
[1:24:08] to provide more to
[1:24:10] administrators well to be
[1:24:11] perfectly candid, I don't know
[1:24:13] all of the ins and outs of what
[1:24:15] is provided to administrators in
[1:24:17] Oklahoma public schools. I'm not
[1:24:19] an expert in that but that being
[1:24:21] said oftentimes administrators
[1:24:23] are hired specifically to deal
[1:24:25] with some of these issues in a
[1:24:26] way that teachers are not.
[1:24:28] Teachers are hired to educate
[1:24:31] 1f+ students in a classroom
[1:24:33] every day their workload is
[1:24:35] enormous. they do not have the
[1:24:35] bandwidth to handle these
[1:24:39] student behaviors and deans of
[1:24:43] studentshaal specialists they
[1:24:44] are designated to handle those
[1:24:47] behaviors so I think that
[1:24:49] answers your question I hope
[1:24:51] it does anyway but there
[1:24:53] there is definitely a difference
[1:24:54] and
[1:24:57] yes there are lots of ways that
[1:24:59] you can approach handling some
[1:25:00] of these issues but a teacher
[1:25:01] bill of rights is a great first
[1:25:03] step it's a great first step
[1:25:05] to making sure that teachers
[1:25:07] feel heard feel like they're
[1:25:09] being protected by their
[1:25:10] administrations. it's a great
[1:25:12] first step towards students
[1:25:14] feeling safer and as I mentioned
[1:25:15] this has already been passed in
[1:25:18] six other states so we have
[1:25:19] some great data coming out of
[1:25:21] those states about discipline
[1:25:23] issues and how they're being
[1:25:24] resolved as well
[1:25:30] thank you Mr chairman could you
[1:25:31] expound further on what you just
[1:25:32] said of the the states that have
[1:25:33] implemented this
[1:25:35] approximately when when did they
[1:25:36] implement it and then what are
[1:25:38] some of those results that
[1:25:41] have have come from that so I'm
[1:25:42] going back on the slides here
[1:25:44] because I had the study up
[1:25:46] earlier and you guys can take a
[1:25:49] look at it if you want oh there
[1:25:51] we go so this was just
[1:25:53] published by 00 no
[1:25:57] there you go OK this was just
[1:26:01] published by AEi this went
[1:26:02] state by state and looked into
[1:26:04] what interventions they had
[1:26:06] implemented in their state I
[1:26:07] mentioned a few of them parental
[1:26:09] notification anti-teacher
[1:26:11] retaliation among other
[1:26:14] things those were very common in
[1:26:16] those school districts in
[1:26:19] those states and now we are
[1:26:20] seeing some of them are passed
[1:26:21] very very recently. I would say
[1:26:23] most of them have passed within
[1:26:24] the last ive years
[1:26:25] so we're just now starting to
[1:26:27] see some data out of those
[1:26:29] states as well but that's a
[1:26:31] great study I encourage you guys
[1:26:33] to check it out you tell us what
[1:26:34] states'm sorry if I missed that
[1:26:35] yes I have it written down hold
[1:26:36] on
[1:26:37] don't know them exactly off the
[1:26:40] top of my head but it's alabama
[1:26:41] Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee
[1:26:44] and
[1:26:45] hold on
[1:26:51] yes Florida alabama, Arkansas,
[1:26:53] Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee
[1:26:54] and Texas.
[1:26:55] thank you
[1:26:59] thank youpresentative Ha I think
[1:27:00] you're at the next part in your
[1:27:00] presentation
[1:27:03] right
[1:27:07] thank you Mr chairirman OK so
[1:27:09] for the thank you thank you
[1:27:10] for coming in and presenting and
[1:27:12] and sharing your your expertise
[1:27:14] with this for the the next
[1:27:17] part we were going to have a a
[1:27:19] teacher come in and and share
[1:27:21] his personal testimony he had a
[1:27:22] conflict and was unable to
[1:27:25] actually make it and and so he
[1:27:26] provided us with a written
[1:27:27] testimony so that should be at
[1:27:28] the bottom of the stack of
[1:27:29] papers that everyone in here
[1:27:32] received his name's mis Benerry
[1:27:33] he's a teacher in moreore public
[1:27:34] schools but I
[1:27:36] wanted to just read a few
[1:27:38] excerpts from his testimony. I
[1:27:39] won't read the whole thing it's
[1:27:40] about three pages long but it's
[1:27:43] a few excerpts to give an idea
[1:27:44] of of his perspective from an
[1:27:45] Oklahoma educator.
[1:27:50] who says I'm a teacher with 20
[1:27:51] years of experience in
[1:27:53] educationhroughout my career
[1:27:53] I've worked in three school
[1:27:55] districts and4 schools. I've
[1:27:55] taught and coached in both
[1:27:57] affluent school districts and
[1:27:59] low income urbanitle one schools
[1:28:01] as a result I've experienced a
[1:28:02] wide range of educational
[1:28:03] environments and socioeconomic
[1:28:05] circumstances my wife has also
[1:28:06] worked as a public school
[1:28:07] teacher for more than 20 years
[1:28:08] primarily as a first grade
[1:28:09] teacher in addition, I'm the
[1:28:11] parent of two elementary school
[1:28:12] aged daughters and then I'm
[1:28:13] going to skip down a little bit
[1:28:15] to section one here it says
[1:28:17] first I'd like to discuss my
[1:28:18] experiences as a parent
[1:28:20] of children in public schools.
[1:28:21] Many parents have well behaved
[1:28:22] children and high expectations
[1:28:23] for their education yet they are
[1:28:25] increasingly concerned about the
[1:28:26] lack of classroom control and
[1:28:26] discipline.
[1:28:28] when my daughter was in the 3rd
[1:28:29] grade she witnessed her teacher
[1:28:31] being assaulted by a student
[1:28:32] with a highly troubling
[1:28:33] background on three occasions my
[1:28:34] daughter had to be evacuated
[1:28:35] from the classroom
[1:28:37] she also heard profanity from
[1:28:39] the student on a daily basis
[1:28:39] this situation continued for
[1:28:41] most of the school year despite
[1:28:42] numerous complaints from parents
[1:28:43] throughout the class. Little
[1:28:45] action was taken until the
[1:28:45] student eventually assaulted a
[1:28:46] police officer after leaving
[1:28:47] school grounds
[1:28:50] and then skipping down to
[1:28:50] section three
[1:28:55] he says IEPs in section one or
[1:28:57] section504 plans can
[1:28:57] significantly limit schools
[1:28:59] abilities to hold students
[1:29:00] accountable for their actions
[1:29:02] although this may be primarily a
[1:29:03] federal issue it affects state
[1:29:05] and local education systems to a
[1:29:07] considerable degree in my
[1:29:08] experience some parents attempt
[1:29:09] to include provisions in their
[1:29:11] children'siEP or504 plans that
[1:29:12] make it difficult for schools to
[1:29:13] impose discipline or hold
[1:29:15] students accountable for
[1:29:16] misconduct as a result schools
[1:29:17] have increasingly increasingly
[1:29:20] struggled to enforce assignment
[1:29:21] deadlines Many districts and
[1:29:22] schools have imple
[1:29:23] ment ed policies stating that
[1:29:25] students may not receive a grade
[1:29:27] lower than50% on an assignment
[1:29:29] or assessment regardless of
[1:29:30] whether the student completed
[1:29:31] the work students quickly learn
[1:29:32] how to take advantage of these
[1:29:33] policies by ignoring their
[1:29:35] schoolwork and using class time
[1:29:36] to misbehave or disrupt
[1:29:36] instruction
[1:29:39] and then skipping down again
[1:29:41] many disciplinary measures that
[1:29:42] teachers once used have been
[1:29:43] removed or prohibited because
[1:29:44] they are considered harmful or
[1:29:45] detrimental to students mental
[1:29:47] or physical wellbe. Examples
[1:29:49] include withholding recess
[1:29:49] requiring students to write
[1:29:51] sentences as a consequence
[1:29:53] keeping students after classroom
[1:29:54] for discussion or requiring
[1:29:55] students to clean the classroom
[1:29:56] or school grounds as a result
[1:29:57] teachers have fewer tools
[1:29:59] available to address misconduct
[1:30:00] our ability to enforce
[1:30:01] appropriate behavior is
[1:30:03] extremely limited by state and
[1:30:04] federal laws as well as district
[1:30:04] policies.
[1:30:07] and then skipping down to
[1:30:07] section five
[1:30:10] the role and function of school
[1:30:11] counseling offices weren't for
[1:30:13] further study and research in my
[1:30:15] experience school counselor's
[1:30:16] responsibilities have changed
[1:30:17] significantly since I was a
[1:30:19] student counselors once focused
[1:30:20] primarily on academic support,
[1:30:21] credit completion and helping
[1:30:22] students remain on track for
[1:30:24] graduation today many counseling
[1:30:25] offices appear to function as
[1:30:26] places where students can
[1:30:27] express grievances about
[1:30:29] parents, teachers and peers
[1:30:30] while students should have
[1:30:31] access to appropriate emotional
[1:30:33] support schools must also help
[1:30:34] students develop perseverance
[1:30:36] perseverance resilience and the
[1:30:37] ability to address challenges
[1:30:38] maturely.
[1:30:41] then skipping down again
[1:30:43] students should be encouraged to
[1:30:44] persevere overcome challenges,
[1:30:45] think critically and meet
[1:30:46] rigorous academic
[1:30:48] expectations.stead some students
[1:30:50] quickly learn to ask what are my
[1:30:51] options or what choices do I
[1:30:53] have to avoid this assignment or
[1:30:55] activity in many cases students
[1:30:55] then bring these concerns to
[1:30:57] counselors rather than
[1:30:57] attempting to resolve them
[1:30:58] appropriately
[1:31:00] we must be careful not to create
[1:31:01] a system in which students
[1:31:02] receive special treatment simply
[1:31:03] because they report discomfort
[1:31:05] or dissatisfaction. the lack of
[1:31:06] resilience among many students
[1:31:06] is concerning
[1:31:09] Teachers are also increasingly
[1:31:10] subject to investigations based
[1:31:11] on student reports sometimes
[1:31:13] without the teacher's knowledge
[1:31:14] in many school districts a
[1:31:15] teacher's professional judgment
[1:31:17] and account of an incident no
[1:31:17] longer received the same level
[1:31:19] of credibility as a student's
[1:31:20] report. This creates an
[1:31:21] imbalance in which students and
[1:31:23] teachers may be treated as
[1:31:23] though they possess equal
[1:31:25] authority and responsibility in
[1:31:26] the classroom
[1:31:29] and then lastly he closes
[1:31:31] with these issues are
[1:31:33] interconnected and require
[1:31:35] attention from educators parents
[1:31:36] administrators legislators and
[1:31:38] community leaders schools cannot
[1:31:39] address these challenges alone
[1:31:41] meaningful improvement will
[1:31:43] require clear expectations,
[1:31:45] consistent consequences parental
[1:31:46] responsibility, appropriate
[1:31:47] support for teachers and
[1:31:49] policies that prioritize student
[1:31:50] learning and school safety
[1:31:52] and so I wanted to to thank
[1:31:55] Mrerry for for putting doing
[1:31:56] the work to put this together
[1:31:56] one of the like I said read a
[1:31:58] few excerpts but thank you
[1:32:01] all everyone for for being
[1:32:01] here thank you for your
[1:32:03] attendance and your attention at
[1:32:06] this study I think the the theme
[1:32:07] that I've seen throughout the
[1:32:08] the two studies that we've had
[1:32:09] today related to discipline is
[1:32:11] that it really does seem like
[1:32:13] there's wide agreement that
[1:32:15] discipline and order in the in
[1:32:17] the classroom is something that
[1:32:18] needs to be addressed and so I
[1:32:19] look forward to working with all
[1:32:20] my colleagues
[1:32:23] to come come with
[1:32:25] solutions that support students
[1:32:26] and teachers and administrators
[1:32:28] and parents and ultimately
[1:32:30] provide a positive educational
[1:32:31] environment for all of our
[1:32:33] Oklahoma students because I know
[1:32:35] that that's what we all want so
[1:32:36] thank you all and turn it
[1:32:37] back over to you Mr chairman
[1:32:38] thank you representative Hall
[1:32:39] thank you for bringing this
[1:32:40] subject forward and thank you
[1:32:41] Missre for being here I know
[1:32:43] it's a long trip but we
[1:32:45] appreciate that very much
[1:32:47] without any further ado we will
[1:32:48] adjourn. we'll be back here at
[1:32:49] 9:30 in the morning