Teachers’ Rights in Maryland: How the Good Teacher Protection Act Protects Against Attacks and Injustice

In Maryland, many educators, particularly those working in public educational institutions, face a dilemma of trying to stop violence and other types of student disturbances in their classrooms and on school premises mainly because some students can easily attack them verbally or even punch them in their face, making malicious accusations of child abuse against them.

While most parents expect educators to instill discipline in their kids and ensure their safety in school, some of them complain if teachers take necessary actions to intervene and prevent the violation. Moreover, there are even those who don’t hesitate to file charges against them, and thereby many teachers experience injustice. This is a huge problem that many of our teachers face these days.

Lucky for them, House Bill 802, the Good Teacher Protection Act, brought forward by Delegate Daniel Cox, received a final vote in the House of Delegates on March 11, 2020. From now on, the law is on their side: all innocent teachers who do their best to prevent harm within school settings will be protected legally when doing so.

Before the Act was passed, the teachers who hurt someone when taking preventative actions could be sued for damage and the county boards of education were responsible for covering the expenses resulted from those actions. With the introduction of this new legislation, everything is going to change. The Good Teacher Protection Act will protect educators from civil liability for any damage or injury that is resulted from the steps taken for preventing disruptive behavior. However, school staff members must act in good faith and no willful, tortuous, or grossly negligent actions must be taken.

Delegate Dan Cox said that he was very glad to see the Maryland House supporting the bill. He believes that the Act will protect school staff members from attacks and injustice when they simply want to stop violence in classrooms and on school premises. Also, Delegate Cox highlighted that for our kids to have a prosperous future it is important to develop in a favorable learning environment where there is no room for violence and threats.

Delegate Kathy Szeliga claims that this bill will reshape our classrooms immediately and meaningfully allowing educators to teach and instill discipline in kids and the latter ones to learn properly.

This new legislation is one of five bills offered by the Minority Caucus aiming to protect teachers’ rights and create a safer educational environment. It is believed that the Act is a great improvement to the law that we follow currently and serves as a bridge to a brighter future for the state of Maryland.

The fact is that a great number of assaults in schools have shaped the priorities outlined in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Therefore, the strategic plan is focused mainly on expanding learning opportunities, sustaining behavioral and mental health, and increasing staffing levels. The main idea behind these emphases is to remediate stress factors and underlying conditions that are likely to result in student disturbances, such as verbal threats, cussing, and physical assaults on individuals who work and study in schools in Maryland.

Written by Tim Lento

Tim is a professional writer at Pro-Papers, who is happy to help students with their essays, research papers, and coursework projects. Except for academic writing, Tim is fond of producing blog posts covering various topics, and those on teachers’ rights are some of his favorite ones.