There’s a Yellow Rose in Texas That I am Gonna See
I always said the hardest job in the world is parenting. But having a career in anything is also difficult and those on the outside of any career don’t necessarily know how hard that career is. Just because you’re familiar with a career doesn’t mean that you understand all the issues that go with it. For example, I have a niece who is a medical doctor. Just because I go to a medical doctor for physicals doesn’t mean I understand what her job is like being a doctor. For any job – – like sales or accounting or marketing or project manager--we may be familiar with these jobs but we do not know how hard these jobs really are.
There is a new Texas law that just came into fact and one of my friends sent it to me. Before we get into the Texas law, let me give you a scenario.
Most people I know are in business so I’m gonna use a business scenario. Let’s say you are a project manager and you have a daily staff meeting that has specific guidelines. The staff meeting can only be 55 minutes exactly. You will not see your staff nor have any contact with them for the rest of the day after the staff meeting. There are 30 members of your staff and you are all seated in a very small room. There is an agenda that you, as the project manager, have to get through within that 55 minutes.
It’s a typical Monday and your staff meeting starts at 8 AM. You hand out the agenda and start going through the items. About 10 minutes into the staff meeting, Michael comes in with his giant iced latte that he got from Dunkin’ Donuts. It was probably the reason why he was late. But instead of just coming in and quietly sitting down as unobtrusive as possible, he makes a grand entrance. He noisily walks in, says “Hello everyone. I’m here!” and proceeds to be disruptive as he gets to his seat. At that point, you have to stop the meeting because of the disruption. Finally, Michael sits down but then starts talking to his neighbor. Again, you have to stop and say something like, “hey Michael, are you with us?” and then hopefully you can begin again with Michael’s attention. Meanwhile, Michael is not writing anything down, he’s not taking any notes, and he does not hear or understand his assignment on the project.
Michael continues to be disruptive, talking to his neighbor, even showing things to his other neighbor what’s on his phone. Again, you have to stop the meeting and you ask Michael to go outside the room with you. Reluctantly, Michael goes out and you ask him if everything is OK. He says everything is fine. You explain to him, very respectively, that you need to get through this agenda in the short time that you have. It would be very helpful if Michael could just sit quietly while you gave out the assignments. You want to make sure everyone understands what they need to do for the project. Michael rolls his eyes, but then he goes back into the conference room.
Michael does not stop his behavior once you both return to the room. He talks to his neighbor. Again you have to ask him to please be quiet while you’re trying to get through all of this. And this goes on quite a few times. At the end of the 55 minutes all of your staff members have to leave. They are frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed, and maybe angry. Why? Because most of the meeting was being disrupted by Michael’s behavior. Using all your tools as a project manager, you just could not get Michael to cooperate in the meeting. You weren’t trying to manipulate him. Your goal was for him to sit quietly and not interfere with the other staff members. They were there on time, listening, taking notes, and trying to understand their part on the project. Instead, you didn’t get through all of your agenda. The staff had no time to ask questions to get clarification of their roles. There was no time for discussions or constructive dialogue.
The sad part is that Michael’s behavior is like this at almost all staff meetings. So, as project manager, what are your options? Probably your first course of action would be to talk to HR (human resources). They would say that you need to document all his behavior and the actions you have taken so far to correct his behavior. Then, with HR’s help, you would meet with Michael, discuss his behavior and his actions, and create a PIP (performance improvement plan). If there is no improvement, then termination would be the next step. I think most people in business would agree that this is the best course of action for the company and for Michael. You are giving him a chance to improve but he may just not be the right fit for the company.
Now, let’s switch gears. In this same scenario, everything stays the same except your staff meeting is a classroom, Michael is a high school student, and you are a teacher. If Michael is displaying the same disruptive behavior and interfering with the education of the other 29 students in the classroom, what are your options as a teacher? You could stop teaching and say something like, “hey Michael, are you with us?”. Sometimes this works. Sometimes Michael comes back with “Why are you embarrassing me by calling me out in class?” Ok, how about asking Michael to come out in the hallway to address the issue? In the hallway, you ask him if everything is OK. He says everything is fine. You explain to him, very respectively, that you need to get through the lesson in the short time that you have. It would be very helpful if Michael could just sit quietly while you gave out the assignments. You want to make sure everyone understands what they need to do for the project. This may work and Michael goes back into the class just fine. Or he might say “Why did you embarrass me by pulling me into the hallway?” and continue with his disruptive behavior in the classroom.
So, what do you do?
Sometimes, with students, it is best just to get them out of the classroom so they can regroup. There may be a real issue going on, maybe with home life or a fight with a friend right before class, or there is a conflict between the student and teacher. Either way, sometimes the best solution is to get out of the situation.
At this point, most teachers would agree what is best is to ask the student to leave the classroom--maybe go see their counselor. You could quietly ask them to your desk, give them this option, and write them a pass. Sounds like a good idea, right? The teacher can concentrate on the other 29 students and Michael could maybe get some help with whatever is bothering him. However, administration does not like this option. They say it is depriving Michael of his education in your class.
Hmmmm…. My two comments: how much “education” is Michael getting with his disruptive behavior and what about the education of the other 29 students in the class???
As teachers, this makes our lives very difficult with little or no options. In comes this new Texas Law. The Law is HB 6 (House Bill 6) and went into effect last school year (2025-2026). This is what the law says…
If a student is being disruptive, combative, and/or being a bully, they can be removed from the classroom. Yay!! That is what teachers have been saying for a long time.
A teacher who has a student removed because of the above reasons can NOT face any disciplinary proceedings. Yup, that’s right. Before this law, if you removed a student for any reason from your classroom, including physical violence, you got a reprimand from administration. I know several teachers who have been pushed, shoved, hit, punched, and had hot coffee poured on them by students. No, and I mean NO, disciplinary action was taken on the students. In fact, the teachers that were victims of this violence, were pulled into administration offices and drilled about what they did to PROVOKE the students to such violence! Can you imagine?? The only thing the teachers could do was file a police report for battery because those same students were put back into their classroom immediately!
If a student is asked to leave a class, there must be some type of consequence for the student’s action. They may get an in school suspension, detention, or placed into a different class. The student is allowed back into your classroom after the consequence and with your permission. You, as the teacher, can ask for a conference with the student and their parents before they come back to your class. This also goes without saying that sometimes a consequence is not a good idea if there is a reason for his behavior. Maybe Michael did have a fight with his parents that morning and it carried over to the rest of his day. Consequences are not helpful then. It is more helpful for Michael to see his counselor and talk about what is going on with him and how he feels about it. This intervention is very helpful to Michael and may improve his behavior immediately so he can return to class the next day.
The point is that the teacher needs to make decisions on what is best for ALL 30 students in their classroom and they need to know they will be backed, not punished, for the professional decision they make in that classroom.
Texas Law does not say that the student cannot ever come back to your class. What it does say is that the other students are just as important as the “squeaky wheel” and changes need to be made so that you don’t keep having the same issue over and over. Doesn’t that make sense?
Well, one state out of the 50 thinks so.
Blog Website: https://www.lifelessonsfrommemaw.com/
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