[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

Common Education

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