Local News in Brief : Bill Aims at Assaults Against Teachers

Attacks against two San Fernando Valley teachers this month prompted a bill introduced Friday in Sacramento that would increase penalties for assaults on classroom teachers and would require districts such as Los Angeles to spend more money on school security.

The bill, named the Teacher Protection Act of 1989 by its author Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), would also require that teachers be warned about students in their classes who have criminal records.

The bill was introduced because of “a wave of teacher-related violence” in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Robbins said at a press conference Friday.

Earlier this month, a Sylmar Junior High School English teacher was stabbed during class by one of her students and a popular Grant High School teacher was shot and killed in front of his Sherman Oaks home by an unknown assassin.