[Leisler]

RE; "Until WE can discipline students and remove those that are disrupting, the schools will continue to be in chaos. "

Just do it. Professionals don't have to ask. I have noticed that when it comes to pay and benifits, teachers always say they are "Professionals." When it comes to action, or doing, they say they are basically just slavish union workers on a assembly line that they have no control over. Either, or.

[summer]

Professionals don't have to ask

Leisler, that sounds like good advice, but mrfixit514 has a valid point too.

There have been threads right here on this forum about the problem -- student discipline verses the inability of teachers to impose consequences. And, while sometimes that problem has to do with the inexperience of a teacher in classroom management, and other times it has to do with the fact the teacher is not a great teacher, it also has to do with the fact that teachers, unlike other "professionals" have limited protection in terms of potential professional liability. In schools, for every action, there is an equal and potential quite alarming "reaction" -- often from parents previously nowhere to be found.

This can be a very tough problem. Many here have actually experienced, and suggested, parents being required to sign waivers. In other words, in some private and charter schools, a parent agrees not to sue if a student is disciplined. However, and unfortunately, that does not exist in public schools. Consequently, it has gotten to the point that a teacher can not EVER be alone with one student in a classroom after school or during lunch to provide tutoring or extra help out of fear of what can be alleged -- even though nothing but tutoring happens. It's a very serious problem in schools -- and, IMO, one that professionals in other fields do not encounter to this degree.

That's not to let all teachers off the hook, but to let you understand limitations to a teacher's authority certainly exist -- and some students are the first ones to tell you so.