Three teacher unions urge safety overhaul after student assaults multiple staff at Cheongju elementary school

Three major teacher organizations have urged authorities to build a safety net that ensures early treatment for students in emotional and behavioral crisis and allows for their immediate removal when violence occurs, following an incident in which a student assaulted a homeroom teacher and several other staff members at an elementary school in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Unions issued a statement Friday saying that teachers physically blocking students had become, in effect, the school's de facto separation measure. "The law and the system spell out separation, but neither the personnel nor the spaces needed to make it happen have been adequately provided," the federation said.

Under current law governing elementary and secondary education, teachers may physically restrain a student when there is an urgent risk of harm to the student or others. The federation said, however, that the permissible scope of such restraint remains unclear, leaving teachers exposed to violence out of fear of being reported for child abuse.

The federation said the student involved had reportedly shown verbal aggression and disruptive behavior before the incident, and said early intervention — rather than after-the-fact response — had been needed. It called on education offices to take charge of counseling, treatment, welfare and education referrals, and guardian engagement whenever a school requests emergency support for a student in emotional or behavioral crisis.

The federation also called for the deployment of dedicated school safety personnel and the securing of separate spaces, staff and budgets to enable the effective removal of students who commit violence.

"The essence of this incident is that a crisis-student support system — one that should function regardless of whether a student has a special education designation — did not exist," the federation said. "Necessary support must be provided to the student promptly, but violence cannot be tolerated simply because the student is in crisis."

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations also called for legislation mandating that guardians follow through on treatment obligations, and for an expansion of school-assigned police officers, known as SPOs. The association said current law limits schools to merely recommending counseling or treatment to guardians of students in emotional and behavioral crisis.

The association said that securing emergency support currently requires notifying guardians multiple times, obtaining expert opinions including those of psychiatrists, and going through committee deliberations — making it difficult to respond to sudden crises. It called for revisions to allow school principals to immediately demand treatment and protective measures based on expert assessments, with referrals to local governments and specialized treatment institutions if guardians refuse to comply.

Kang Ju-ho, chairman of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, urged the introduction of a one-school, one-SPO system. "School-assigned police officers must be significantly expanded to protect the safety of teachers and students from sudden physical violence that no teacher can handle alone," he said.

The North Chungcheong branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union emphasized the education office's responsibility. "This incident must not be viewed simply as one student's impulsive behavior," the branch said. "Given that the student had long struggled with school life and behavioral guidance, we must thoroughly examine whether the support the student needed was properly provided and whether the systems to protect teachers and other students were functioning."

The branch also called for active cooperation from the student's guardian. "To truly help the student, the school, the education office and the guardian must all respond with shared responsibility," it said, urging the North Chungcheong Provincial Office of Education to go beyond after-the-fact counseling and treatment support and instead establish the personnel and systems needed to immediately separate and support students in crisis. The branch also called for psychological support for fellow teachers and students who experienced or witnessed the violence.

The branch said it planned to hold an emergency meeting with the North Chungcheong Provincial Office of Education that afternoon and to stage a rally outside the office demanding measures to prevent a recurrence.

The teacher who was assaulted, identified only by the surname A, is a contract teacher in her late 60s and a retired educator who began a six-month assignment Tuesday — her first day on the job. On that first day, during a diagnostic assessment, she was subjected to verbal abuse by a fifth-grade student, identified only as B. The school calmed the student down after the disruptive behavior and called in the guardian to take the student home early.

The following day, when Teacher A directed Student B to retake the diagnostic assessment, the student kicked her, punched her in the head and face, and pulled her hair, according to accounts of the incident. Other staff members who tried to separate the student were also assaulted.

Teacher A received medical treatment immediately after the incident and is on leave under provisions for violations of educational activities. Student B has been suspended from attending school through Sept. 22. The Cheongju District Office of Education is reviewing whether to move up the scheduled meeting of the local teachers' rights protection committee, which had been set for Sept. 23.