Local Government TV

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Morganelli Wants Teacher Bill of Rights

Morganelli wants teacher Bill of Rights
John Morganelli is Northampton County's DA. Allentown is outside his jurisdiction. But he walked into a hastily called news conference on April 20 with a copy of The Morning Call in his hand. Over the weekend, he read a Watchdog report detailing over 3,000 incidents involving unruly students last year, including assaults on other students and staff.  That was the "last straw" for him. Noting that this is a Lehigh Valley wide problem that includes suburban schools, Morganelli said "it is time to clamp down on the recent escalation of disruptions occurring in our schools due to a small out of control,segment of unruly, disrespecting and disruptive students."

He noted that Lehigh County DA Jim Martin is similarly frustrated, and in the wake of student assaults against police officers, has called for stiffer penalties for this criminal behavior. But he believes it;s time that teachers know they have rights, too. Noting that most of them feel handcuffed, Morganelli called for a Teacher Bill of Rights to protect them from lawsuits for insisting on order in an educational environment. He noted that under existing law, teachers "have an absolute right to protect themselves and use force to maintain order."  despite an atmosphere of "political correctness run amuck" in which teachers tell him they are afraid to put up their hands to defend themselves. "Teachers need more rights. not students, and they need to be able to discipline student without fear."

Morganelli was especially critical of the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which he claims has been perverted to include disruptive and violent students and school administrators who are unable, without parental or court permission, to place a disruptive special needs student into an alternative program or suspend for more than 10 days or even require counseling. "IDEA needs to be revamped so schools can truly take a zero tolerance approach toward school violence," he said.

Morganelli announced he is calling on federal legislators to amend IDEA to give educators more flexibility in dealing with and expelling students who cause problems in school, regardless how they are classified.

"These kids have no fear," he complained.

"This is my message to teachers and educators: In Northampton County, this District Attorney is not going to allow a bunch of unruly and disruptive students, no matter how they are classified, to create havoc and physical danger to other students in out schools and our educators. If you use reasonable force to maintain order or protect yourself, you are within the law and will not be criminally prosecuted."

32 comments:

  1. Teacher bill of rights? How about this: You have the right to a 401k with employer contribution and not a pension. You are going to eventually bankrupt many homeowners, especially seniors, eventually. Eastern Northampton county is already paying Jersey property tax rates.

    Despite the above, I agree with Morganelli that the teachers should be immune from lawsuits or punishment if they are acting in self defense against an unruly student. The "politically correct" attitude that government has fostered over the recent years is no doubt the cause of the current situation.

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    1. Try teaching a week..... then you will see how things have changed since you were in school.

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  2. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ still won't be the AG

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  3. About what? Morganelli winning a statewide race? Just about as worried about the sun not rising tomorrow.

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  4. Why does Morganelli feel he needs to come to the teachers aid, is it for their vote. If anyone would challenge the teachers union on their pay or benefits they would be screaming bloody murder, but the union is silent on the this important issue, are they so politically correct that they have not demanded reform for their own safety and order in the classroom, or does this go against the agenda of the Marxists who control their union at the upper levels.

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  5. Check out the scorched earth posted about John on LVL.......John does have some explaining to do in that he regularly prosecutes parents for child discipline. Seems ironic he is out here in the media calling for teachers to fight back....? No ?

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  6. It seems that you don't know what you're talking about, No? The LVL comments section is fill of anonymous haters like you.

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  7. Sorry if that is a "diss" to your idol....but its fair to call out hypocrisy when hypocrisy exists. John should put his money where his mouth is...

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  8. You have no idea what you're talking about, as usual.

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  9. Pandering. Just like the last time Morganelli unsuccessfully ran for AG and his big issue was illegal immigrants ... until he lost and we never really heard much about it once again. Is this an important issue? Yes. Was it an important issue last year and the year before that? Yes. But being that Morganelli is a life long politician pandering is just what he does and makes it really, really hard to believe he actually cares about this issue.

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  10. Political grandstanding at it's best!

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  11. 'Throw Them All In Jail'..John Morganelli. Hardliner.

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  12. Jail is the answer to everything..right John?

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  13. Destroyer of families..john Morganelli.

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  14. Someone obviously has an ax to grind.

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  15. He's attempting to neutralize the animus public school teachers have for parents, like John, who chose parochial school for their kids. Good luck with that, John. You'll never be AG while you're still a registered Democrat. Perhaps it's time to consider a switch. Moderate Democrats are going the way of the buggy whip. You wouldn't be leaving your party. Your party has already left you.

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  16. "Moderate Democrats are going the way of the buggy whip"

    The same way moderate Republicans are now extinct?

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  17. It's my understanding that John hasnt met with any County Superintendents or Teacher union heads. If that is true.. this is nothing more than a last ditch effort to win a race he has NO chance of winning ..

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  18. There are no county superintendents in this area. There are school district superintendents. If you knew anything about this issue, you would know that. I know for a fact that John speaks to teachers frequently. There are several in office in Bethlehem. His best friend is a retired teacher. I don't know whether he met with any union heads, but I do know he considers politically correct school administrators to be part of the problem.

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  19. PC school district Administrators are part of the problem? Really? How so? Laying blame at their doorstep is a cop out. Elected boards select their own directors thus the people are indirectly giving their agreement to the hires and overall board practices. That is democracy.

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  20. You have just demonstrated you don't know what you're talking about again, referring to "county superintendents" and wildly claiming something as fact that you don't know is true.

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  21. funny, no matter what the bill of rights say, the union says ,stay out of an altercation. This is a fact.

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  22. Bernie,
    When I said "County Superintendents" I meant no Superintendents in his county, ie. Northampton

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  26. The jail is of no concern to JM. Never was. Lock them up and forget about them is his motto. Don't be fooled by his ads. Doing the right thing plays second to doing whatever makes him look good and feel good.

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  27. "Hey,what happened to the investigator of the prison,i heard he hot fired,why isnt that in your blog? "

    Because I have not heard it from anyone but you. I will check.

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  28. "thats the rumor..why werent you all over that?..or is that where you got all your insid info?? "

    You'd be surprised where I get my inside information about the jail. I will check out what you say.

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  29. "When I said "County Superintendents" I meant no Superintendents in his county, ie. Northampton"

    Uh huh.

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