NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There is a new law that permits Metro from suspending disruptive students.

Video: Word On The Street (12/3/07)

That has some people wondering about the safety of teachers who have been threatened, cursed and hit by students. Some teachers have even required hospital treatment.

The state legislature this summer quietly passed a bill saying students can not be suspended in Metro Nashville schools. Students can only be sent to an alternative school.

But schools have not been following the legislation.

Channel 4 News is told that teachers were never told of the no-suspension rule.

Recently, a trouble-making female senior student at Hunter's Lane High School was involved in a fight with two other female students in a hallway.

The fight got violent enough to send three teachers to hospitals for treatment. One of the teachers was slammed into a locker and another was knocked to the floor.

According to two teachers, the senior student has had 17 disciplinary referrals to the principal’s office since her sophomore year and has previously been expelled under the zero-tolerance rule.

The charges included disruptive behavior, dangerous assault, being disrespectful, refusing to obey or accept punishment.

After the recent fight, there was a hearing and she was ordered to attend another school, a teacher said.

However, the student has already returned to Hunter's Lane High School, and the fight and injuries to the teachers has been forgotten.

When Channel 4 asked Metro school officials about the situation, Ralph Thompson, the Assistant Superintendent for Student Services, said:

"This is not the truth. There is more to this, much more."

So, what's not true and what more is there? He didn't say.