A "Safe Schools Rally" was held outside the Akron School Board meeting Monday evening after concerns surfaced over how the district is handling reports of physical and verbal assaults against teachers.
The rally was organized by teachers who are upset over the way the district has handled the disciplinary actions for students who have committed a verbal or physical assault. More than 20 grievances have been filed by teachers so far this year.
"I think it shows the frustration and the lack of moral, their willingness to support one another because if it happens in one building, it happens in another building," Akron Education Association president Pat Shipe said. "We're here united in solidarity."
Shipe contends it’s a violation of the teachers’ contracts if students are not reassigned to another school or expelled following an assault.
“We have teachers being body-slammed, kicked, punched and headbutted.”
In the case of an East High School teacher who was reportedly body-slammed, the student was suspended and transferred to another building, but not expelled. School officials said specific information related to the student couldn’t be released due to privacy concerns.
The verbal and physical assault cases mentioned in the grievances included complaints over how the students were disciplined. The hearing officer made recommendations which included returning the student to their original school, recommending the student attend an alternative program, and/or moving the student to another building.
Shipe addressed the school board to raise awareness to the concerns and to ask the board to "board take immediate action to enforce the code of student behavior" and support the union's collective bargaining unit.
APS spokesman Mark Williamson said the issue is complex, and each reported case is handled separately. Students are referred to the Board of Education and a hearing officer determines the disciplinary action that will be taken, which is known as a statutory appeal process for students and their parents to challenge their disciplinary outcomes.
"I want them to know that we take it very seriously," Akron School Board President Patrick Bravo said. "We heard them tonight."
So far, this year, 45 physical and 69 verbal assaults have been reported. APS officials said it represents just about half of one percent of the total student body. Of these 114 students named in the reported assaults, the district's hearing officer found that "14 did not rise to the level of a verbal or physical assault," according to Williamson.
"The state of Ohio ranks us pretty high in terms of frequency and severity of discipline," Bravo said. "So we are doing something to address discipline issues in school, but is what we’re doing effective, I think that’s what we’ll look at."
There has been talk from the school board to create a committee to address some of the issues presented. Bravo said a committee is being organized, which will include members of the juvenile justice and mental health communities, and parents.
"None of our teachers deserve to feel uncomfortable in their own classrooms."
WATCH: Channel 3's Amani Abraham captured video of the protest on WKYC's Facebook Live: