A teacher fights back against unruly kids

In Moore's case, she first complained to school officials on March 18. The student was placed in a three-day after-school detention program, but the behavior continued. On April 7, the same day she filed for the injunction, Moore filed a new complaint with the school and the student received a five-day suspension and was not allowed back into her classroom when he returned to campus.

"I am sexually harassed and abused by his vulgar language and unable to protect my other students from him," Moore wrote in her complaint. "His father tells me he cannot control [his son]."

Teachers who don't have the support of parents, the administration, or the district have nowhere else to turn but the courts, said Alice Finn Gartell, an attorney for the Arizona Education Association - a teacher lobby - and author of "Violence and Threats in the Classroom."

"When things become impossible for a teacher they have to count on the administration for support," Ms. Gartell said. "Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not."

It's not unheard of for school administrators to ask teachers not to report assaults or threats. "There are many instances when school employees were told not to call the police because they didn't want a bad reputation," she said.

Teachers and principals alike are fearful of taking disciplinary action against a student because of legal reprisals from angry parents. A recent Harris Interactive poll found that 77 percent of principals and 61 percent of teachers "avoid decisions that they think are right simply because they might be challenged legally."

Even though schools most often win when challenged in court, Udell said, the threat of a lawsuit has affected how schools and teachers mete out punishment in the classroom.

"It's a huge pendulum swing and we have to do something to come back the other way," she said.

Educators had hoped to get help from President Bush in 2002, when he signed, as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Teacher Protection Act - which says that K-12 school employees are immune from liability for injuring a student. The immunity only applies if the injury occurs while the employee is engaged in "efforts to control, discipline, expel, or suspend a student or maintain order."

Teachers feel that the law doesn't do enough to shield them from frivolous lawsuits and provides no funding for mounting a legal defense.

The student's father, Reyes Cavazos, said that his son missed the hearing because he wasn't where he was supposed to be to get a ride to court. He ascribed his son's misbehavior to growing pains, but said he deserved whatever punishment that the court ordered.

"He's a growing child," Cavazos said. "He's going through the typical teenage years. You know, he has good days and bad days."

Moore has received widespread support from teachers throughout the state.

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