La. School Respect Bill Now a Law
By GUY COATES, AP
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. Mike Foster on Tuesday signed the nation's first
state law requiring students to address teachers as ``ma'am'' or ``sir'' or use the
appropriate title of Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs.
The Republican governor and other politicians said the law will help return
respect to the classroom.
The law will apply to those in kindergarten through fifth grade beginning next
fall. Higher grades will be phased in over the next few years, one grade per year.
No punishment is included in the law. Each of Louisiana's 66 school systems will
decide how to discipline students refusing to respond politely. However, no student can be
expelled or suspended. ``The lack of respect in and out of school is a national
problem and no one has an answer,'' said Sen. Don Cravens, a Democrat who sponsored the
law.
Around the country, some school systems require parents or students to sign
codes of discipline. Some states, notably Arkansas and Georgia, require ``character
education,'' teaching honesty, fairness and respect for others.
But Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform in Washington,
said she knows of no other such attempt to require respectful conversation through state
law.
