Ruth Briggs King Pledges to Support Passage of Teachers’ Bill of Rights for Delaware Educators – “Time for Putting First Things First in Delaware Schools”
DOVER – Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate Ruth Briggs King today announced her support for passage of legislation to protect the rights and safety of Delaware teachers in their classroom. The former educator noted that other states have debated and two have enacted similar bills with bipartisan support this year and it was time the First State followed suit.
“The fact that Delaware’s teachers are being assaulted and abused in public school classrooms and school hallways on a regular basis and those in control are ignoring their pleas for help is intolerable,” said Briggs King who has pressed for safer schools during her time in the Legislature. “It’s far past time for new legislation which is working in other states to become law here in Delaware.”
In a recent Delaware State Education Association (DSEA) member survey, 75 percent of respondents said they’ve experienced verbal outbursts by students that disrupted learning, while 40 percent of respondents say they’ve evacuated classrooms due to unsafe student behavior. Another 58 percent say they’ve experienced students damaging property, and 20 percent have been physically hurt by a student.
Briggs King noted at that time that “if these results are a revelation for DSEA leadership, it shows how out of touch they are with the conditions in many of our classrooms.”
Alabama enacted a bipartisan Teachers’ Bill of Rights law (Senate Bill 157) in May 2024. Legislatures in other states such as Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina have also considered bills to protect teachers and classrooms this year.
The new Alabama law requires schools to “take action against a student when the student disrupts class to the point that the teacher sends the child out of the classroom,” according to a news report from AL.com. Before the student can return to the teacher’s class, the principal must give written notification about what type of disciplinary action was taken.
The Alabama Education Association strongly supported and advocated for the law, stating that teachers were regularly being physically and verbally abused in classrooms and school officials rarely acted against disruptive students. “Teachers are at a breaking point,” AEA Executive Director Amy Marlowe told the newspaper while praising the law’s signing.
“Teachers are a breaking point here in Delaware as well and we need to pass new laws to protect both teachers and students,” said Briggs King. “If I am elected as Lieutenant Governor, I will work with legislators from across the aisle and in every district to pass strong, fair, and effective laws to protect our classrooms and the teachers and students there. It’s time to put first things first for safer and better schools.”
In recent days, students at high schools in New Castle and Sussex have been arrested for possession of a firearm on campus, assault and aggravated menacing, and making terroristic threats. Reports from the Delaware State Police found 332 other arrests made at schools during the 2023-24 year, as of February 2024, compared to 341 in all of 2022-23.
Such cases have risen steadily the past five academic years, with state police reporting 233 arrests made in 2018-19, 235 in 2019-20 and 260 in 2021-22 according to a Delaware State News story earlier this year.
“As this reporting shows, the increasing violence in our schools was obvious to anyone who cared to look,” said Briggs King. “Things have only gotten more dire since then and will not improve without real leadership to make a difference.”
For more information or to get involved with Ruth’s campaign, visit www.RuthForDelaware.com or follow her on Facebook at RuthForDelaware and Instagram at RuthBriggsKing
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