Limited Version Of Teacher Protection Act Passed By Assembly

State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt was pleased to see the Assembly pass his Teacher Protection Act before they ended their session last month. But the version they passed was much more limited in scope than the original bill. That bill contained 10 different initiatives. Due to the session ending only one initiative survived. He says, “You run to the end of session you get short on time and you take what you can get. I was able to get some agreement out my Republican colleagues on this that this one provision was important to do.” The provision passed by the Assembly would allow teachers who have been physically assaulted by a student to break their contract with a school district without financial penalty if they feel working elsewhere would be safer. Thiesfeldt says, “What some districts will do is they will fine you for that. They will have in your contract that if you break your contract that there is X number of dollars. Milwaukee for instance has a $2,000 fine in many of their contracts.” The bill has moved on to the State Senate.