The bill proposed to protect Delaware teachers from spite lawsuits is long overdue and much needed if educators are to regain the power to maintain discipline in schools and classrooms. Pending legislation would ban civil suits against teachers on a child's behalf unless the teacher has been convicted of child abuse. One of the chronic complaints about public schools is lack of discipline. One of the consistent concerns of teachers is that they might be sued if they discipline students. They are not only wary of intervening physically in student confrontations, there are times teachers make judgment calls about disciplining a child whose behavior is distracting rather than dangerous.
Some teachers err on the side of leniency.
The result has been a steady erosion of teachers'authority. Many good laws have been passed to protect individual rights. Unfortunately, some laws have become vehicles for nuisance litigation by parents who themselves have no respect for educators'authority. Civil libertarians might question the wisdom of protecting the rights of teachers to discipline children without being exposed to litigation. We believe teachers should be able to act as surrogate parents during the school day, and therefore should have the same rights to discipline as parents do.