Pendleton's East Oregonian newspaper recently summarized a report from the Oregon Education Association saying 16 teachers in Hermiston and Pendleton were injured by student outbursts in the 2017-2018 school year.

That's up from two just two years prior. That's a major jump in a short amount of time, but teachers reported it's a steadily-increasing trend. They say incoming students just don't know how to handle their negative emotions.

The purpose of the OEA report was to draw attention to the need for funding in school districts to help manage difficult students and aid their families in teaching anger management.

The union also argues the outbursts are hurting teacher retention. Some teachers are saying they don't want to work in such difficult environments.

Although teachers are well-trained on working with children, it sometimes requires special training to handle particularly difficult situations. In 2016 a school resource officer in South Carolina made national news for over-reacting to a difficult student refusing to get out of her desk. The officer had been a football coach and was experienced with students. Notwithstanding all his police training on diffusing situations, the officer did not handle that situation peacefully.

 

 

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