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Prince George's County school teachers and staff are voicing support of proposed legislation intended to improve student behavior, get parents more involved in their children's education and stiffen penalties for assaulting school personnel.

"I definitely believe we need discipline and to be proactive with parents involved," said Mary Summers, a sixth-grade teacher at James McHenry Elementary School in Lanham. "There needs to be some type of consequence to make it real – making an example of a student in a classroom for them to say, ‘She's not joking.'"

Del. Gerron Levi (D-Dist. 23A) of Woodmore introduced four bills Feb. 6 that address school disciplinary issues and respect for teachers and administrators.

"Here's the problem: There aren't easy answers," Levi said. "People have been frustrated by this for years. My thing is [that] it really needs to be addressed, and the numbers say there's urgency to it."

Levi pointed to high rates of habitual truancy in county schools. A 2007-08 state Department of Education study shows that the county's truancy rate of 5.29 percent is more than double the statewide average of 2.33, and the school system ranks second-highest in the state, behind Baltimore city's truancy rate of 9.26 percent.

Under the legislation, parents would be required to attend parent-teacher conferences and take advantage of community services if students are repeatedly suspended or after chronic absences. Parents who fail to take part would risk losing access to some state tax benefits under the Restore Respect at School Act, HB 630.

The Classroom Management Training bill, HB 632, is intended to help bolster general respect between students and teachers by requiring teachers to take classroom management training prior to teaching in the state.

Levi said she expects the bills to be voted on in the state's House Ways and Means Committee within the next few weeks.

The Assaults on School Personnel bill would mandate one to three years of jail time for students who assault a teacher, principal, school bus driver or other school employee, cracking down on current state sentences that do not require judges to send student offenders to jail. A hearing on the bill, HB 631, is scheduled for March 10.

Another bill would require Maryland employers to provide four hours per year of paid or unpaid leave for parents and guardians to attend discipline-related parent-teacher conferences, under the Leave for Discipline-Related Parent-Teacher Conferences bill. A hearing for the bill, HB 633, is scheduled for March 3.

Largo High School Principal Angelique Simpson Marcus said she especially supports the bill that ensures parents are given time to meet with their children's teachers, saying that many parents do not attend disciplinary parent-teacher conferences.

"Parents should be penalized for not attending conferences," she said.

Carl Roberts, executive director of the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, said the association supports the bills that would mandate jail time for school employee assaults and require employers to grant leave for conferences, but he doesn't believe the Restore Respect at School Act is feasible.

"Even though the state has discipline codes, there is a wide variance in the application of those codes," he said. "What you and I call disrespect could have a very wide interpretation of disrespect. I just don't think this legislation will have a profound impact on parents ensuring children are respectful of teachers and school officials."

Parent Michael Summers, whose two children attend Robert Goddard Montessori School in Seabrook, said he thinks the bills could help improve the relationship between parents and schools.

"I think it's an extremely valuable and great first step to getting the parents involved and starting to hold parents accountable, and to make the process transparent, which leads to restoring respect," he said.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.