Teachers assaulted by students daily in Nashville public schools

Teachers and staff assaults in Nashville are so egregious that some teachers don’t bother to discipline students. Others are simply quitting.

In the previous school year, nearly 350 student-to-staff assaults occurred at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) – almost two per day.

“I have seen behavior degrade quite a bit,” recalled high school teacher, Laura Leonard. “It used to be I was worried about gum [chewing] as a French teacher because I wanted to hear them pronounce, but I don’t even think about gum anymore.”

Leonard said students have pushed her and grabbed her arm but is grateful to have never been seriously injured.

Instead, she’s frustrated that school administration doesn’t do a better job of addressing student violence.

“I just feel that sadness of disrespect [from students],” Leonard explained, “but what’s worse is when the people who are supposed to support me don’t believe me.”

Another high school teacher, Susan Norwood, said that teachers won’t even take away a student’s phone for fear of retaliation.

“Teachers have been told we can confiscate phones, but I don’t want to touch a student’s phone,” she told local media. “I don’t know who’s got anger management problems.”

The situation is so bad some teachers are even quitting.

Mark Hayes taught in Tennessee for three decades and loved his job. But one day, a student shoved him in a fit of anger.

“The student pushed me in the chest, knocked me off my feet; [I] landed on my back. I was blindsided,” Hayes recalled.  

Although teachers are supposed to be able to have a student moved to a different class after such an assault, Hayes’ attacker ended up back in his. 

“I was forced to teach someone who physically assaulted me,” he explained. “I decided I had to walk away from a 31-year career, which I never thought I would have to do.” 

And simply being shoved isn’t the worst of what some teachers are experiencing. 

“I’ve seen broken collarbones, concussions,” said J.C. Bowman, executive director for the Professional Educators of Tennessee. “I have teachers tell me that they will not go to the bathroom during the day because they are afraid.” 

The Tennessee state Legislature even passed a law last summer requiring districts to pay a teacher’s full salary and benefits if the teacher misses work as a result of being assaulted on the job. 

But such measures don’t fix the underlying problem. 

“I think students need to have consequences,” concluded Norwood. “I think just talking to the student is not effective, at least at the high school level.”