At the close of Louisiana’s contentious legislative session, House Bill 283, also known as Teacher Shield, passed the House unanimously, 98-0. Introduced by Rep. Candace Newell (D-New Orleans), a former school teacher, the bill is part of a broader push toward what State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley has called a return to “law and order” in schools.
The bill recognized the problem but prescribed the wrong remedy. It responds after violence occurs instead of investing in the conditions that prevent violence in the first place.
And now it is law. The bill took effect as Act 141 a few days ago, on August 1.
Now, students who assault a teacher or school employee face mandatory placement in an alternative school for at least two semesters.
As a former educator who has been physically and verbally assaulted by students, I understand why this bill attracted such widespread support. Teachers shouldn’t fear for their safety at work. Educators shouldn’t have to wonder whether they will be cursed at, threatened, or harmed while trying to do their job.
The new law is intended to create clearer consequences for violence against educators and to restore teachers’ sense of safety in the classroom. It also directs schools to connect removed students with behavioral and mental health services while in alternative settings. Supporters argue that stronger consequences will deter future assaults and reassure teachers that schools will prioritize their protection.
Again, the problem is real. But the remedy should come earlier, by recognizing that we have the tools to prevent violence in schools, long before it happens.
Assaults have risen in recent years
Since the COVID pandemic, assaults in schools have risen. Physical assault has increased by 14% and verbal aggression by almost 20%, with the majority of cases occurring in elementary and middle school.
Given these spikes, the legislation is a well-intentioned attempt to protect educators. Yet it relies on excluding our younger learners rather than providing interventions to properly address behaviors. In doing so, Teacher Shield will likely repeat one of Louisiana’s most persistent educational mistakes: criminalizing children without adequately addressing the developmental, mental health, and environmental factors that contribute to aggressive behavior.
Louisiana already knows many of the interventions that reduce school violence. School counselors, behavioral intervention specialists, trauma-informed mental health services, restorative practices, and family engagement can stem aggressive behavior before it escalates, by addressing the conditions that often lead to aggression. Those investments are CDC-approved and are far more likely to prevent assaults than removing students after harm has already occurred.
In my undergraduate teacher preparation program, one lesson was repeated again and again: trust is the foundation of learning. Meaningful academic growth begins with relationships, it cannot be side stepped.
Students are more likely to engage, persist through challenges, and achieve academically when they trust their teachers and believe those teachers genuinely care about their success. In 2023, the Journal for the Philosophy of Education confirmed that before students can accept correction, challenge, or rigor, they must first believe that the adult in front of them cares about their success.
This is especially true for students who have experienced instability, trauma, or educational neglect—a population growing amid Louisiana’s divestment in young people. These students often exhibit the greatest behavioral challenges and are often the students who require the deepest investment in trust.
As a teacher who has worked closely with students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, I can attest that this bill will have sweeping ramifications for our entire state, not just those in poverty. Young people across the state often reach out to teachers and confide in us from small friendship fights to larger familial challenges.
Over time, that trust creates the conditions for accountability. A student who trusts their teacher is more likely to accept redirection, repair harm, and remain engaged when learning becomes difficult. Without that trust, every disciplinary action becomes a power struggle rather than a learning opportunity, stalling academic achievement and progress.
Highest rates of teacher assault is at elementary level
Contrary to popular belief, the highest rates of teacher assaults occur in elementary schools, where students are also in the earliest stages of social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Act 141 set no minimum age for how young a child can be placed in an alternative educational setting, creating serious concerns for students who are new to school or have not yet been screened for developmental differences such as autism, ADHD, or emotional and behavioral disabilities, for which physical aggression can be a common symptom or means of communication. For many young children, aggressive behavior is a form of communication rather than intentional defiance. Removing them before schools have had a chance to assess their needs and implement appropriate interventions risks punishing disability, trauma, or developmental delay instead of addressing its root cause.
For Black children in particular, trust — and lack thereof — has historical significance. Many Black families view schools and institutions through a lens shaped by generations of discriminatory policies. Throughout American history, Black students have often been treated as people to be surveilled and controlled, not as children deserving of academic achievement and economic mobility.
Louisiana knows this history well.
Following Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans schools adopted strict zero-tolerance discipline policies. Students received suspensions and detentions for minor infractions that had little to do with learning, such as wearing “outside hoodies,” chewing gum, or moving too slowly through the hallway. Those policies disproportionately impacted Black students and often damaged relationships between schools and families without addressing the root causes of student behavior.
And with discretion will come bias. Even in preschool, Black children are seen as “troublemakers” and shuffled into increasingly harsh punishments for minor infractions. Because classroom incidents can vary widely in severity and context, implementation of the law will inevitably rely on adult interpretation and school-level decision making.
The result will not be safer schools but increased resentment, mistrust, and another generation of students and caregivers who view teachers as perpetrators of the school to prison pipeline.
That is why Act 141 concerns me.
Trust, protection, and prevention
Education only works when students, families, and educators trust one another. When I invested in positive relationships with caregivers, student behavior and academic achievement improved. Parents who had once felt dismissed by schools during their childhood became partners in their children’s success. We were breaking generational traumas.
Trust created accountability in ways punishment never could.
To be clear, educators deserve protection.
After a fourth grade student threw a desk directly at my head, I struggled to teach when he returned to class. I found myself on edge, anticipating another outburst. The sense of safety I had worked so hard to establish in my classroom, and for myself, had been disrupted. I had the opportunity to pursue charges against him. As I sat with the school’s safety officer and recounted what had happened, I realized that moving forward would require me to formally participate in a process that would further push a struggling young person out of school.
I chose not to proceed. Not because his behavior was acceptable, but because I could not convince myself that removing him from school would address the reasons he acted out in the first place.
Instead of suggesting I press charges, I would argue that our district should have surrounded that student with the behavioral and mental health supports that Teacher Shield itself acknowledges are necessary. Anger management, trauma-informed counseling, behavioral intervention specialists, and family support could have changed his trajectory — not simply removed him from my classroom.
Increasing wages and quality of life for in-school counselors, behavioral intervention specialists, social workers, trauma-informed mental health services are the only interventions that will keep young people and teachers safe.
These supports may not generate headlines, but they are data-backed strategies to prevent violence rather than simply reacting after it’s occurred.
Act 141 mistakes accountability for prevention. Teacher safety and student trust are not competing priorities. In fact, one cannot exist without the other.
If Louisiana truly wants to shield teachers, it must do more than punish students. It must invest in the relationships, resources, and interventions that make schools safer for everyone.
Julienne Louis-Anderson is a former educator who writes about the intersection of culture and politics with education and human development. She is also a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.
