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State Sen. Julian Garrett (R-Warren) said one local issue he’d like to see addressed during the 2020 legislative session is working on the liability of school staff who have students who are misbehaving and disrupting class.

“It’s been a real problem because they’re afraid of getting sued and don’t hardly know what their rights are and how to handle things,” Garrett said. “I’d like to get a bill passed that clarifies that school personnel aren’t going to be liable as long as they’re acting reasonably and not intentionally injuring somebody or something like that.”

Mental health is an ongoing issue that Garrett expects to come up again this year.

“We’ve been working on that every year,” he said.

Corrections officials have told Garrett that more or less, half the people in the prison system have mental health problems.

“It’s a real big difficult issue where you’ve got people who are violent or potentially violent,” he said. “Not all mentally ill people are violent. In fact, a lot of them aren’t. But the ones who are create a real problem for society. So that’s an ongoing thing as how to best handle that.”

Feedback from mental health professionals and corrections officials will help direct those decisions.

Author: Jacob Hall

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