Why Erin Lopez-Brooks insists true classroom safety requires abandoning compliance protocols and auditing adult behavior instead

The education system is hemorrhaging teachers, and the blame is almost universally placed on escalating student behavior. But what if the systems designed to control that behavior are actually the root of the crisis? For decades, schools have relied on authoritative, compliance-based protocols to manage classrooms. Yet, behavioral incidents continue to rise, and teacher burnout is at an all-time high. Erin Lopez-Brooks, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Montessori educator, argues that we are solving the wrong problem. To build truly safe, productive learning environments, we do not need stricter restraints or better compliance tracking; we need empowered adults who are willing to audit their own behaviors.

Lopez-Brooks’s perspective was forged on both sides of the parent-teacher divide. Her defining moment as a parent occurred when her three-year-old son, who was non-verbal and had no formal medical diagnosis, was handed an Individualized Education Program. The district’s solution was to put him on a bus across town to a special preschool program that could not even guarantee speech services. Recognizing the inadequacy of this path, she drove 45 minutes into the city to a Montessori school, confident they could provide the inclusive, supportive environment her son needed. That decision catalyzed a massive career pivot, prompting her to leave biological sciences behind to study child development, behavior science, and Montessori education.

Years later, she encountered the same systemic failures from the front of the classroom. As a teacher, she was handed fragmented, top-down schedules and expected to manage a diverse room of learners with zero support. When the boxed curriculums and strict timelines inevitably failed, the blame fell squarely on her shoulders.

The Illusion of Control

The core issue, according to Lopez-Brooks, is the pervasive reliance on one-sided, authoritative relationships. Districts push cookie-cutter curricula and compliance systems that prioritize adult control over student connection. But this approach is fundamentally flawed. When a child misbehaves to escape a difficult task and is subsequently sent out of the room, they have successfully achieved their goal. The child avoids the work, the teacher loses instructional time, and the underlying issue remains unaddressed.

More critically, these compliance systems take a heavy toll on educators. Lopez-Brooks points out that the adults who rely on punishment, restraint, and seclusion often end up trapped by their own methods. For every moment an educator spends physically or emotionally restraining a child, they are restraining their own capacity to teach. It is a cycle of reaction that strips autonomy from both the student and the teacher.

“We cannot expect children to feel secure or motivated when the adults in the room are forced to rely on boxed curriculums of restraint and compliance,” Lopez-Brooks notes. “When you build relationships on genuine respect rather than forced authority, you create a foundation for collaborative decision-making and actual, sustainable safety.”

Building Assent-Based Environments

To break this cycle, Lopez-Brooks implements a framework rooted in assent-based and constructional approaches. Rather than inventing these methods, she applies them in a novel way as a Level 6 Trainer and Supervisor, a credential she received through FTF Behavioral Consulting. Drawing on her experiences as a neurodivergent individual and a parent of four neurodivergent children, her methodology is also deeply informed by her rigorous Montessori education—including training at the Montessori Institutes of North Texas and Atlanta, as well as the first international Montessori Therapy program in Munich, Germany.

Rather than relying on de-escalation techniques—which implicitly require a situation to escalate first—her focus is entirely on prevention. When she works with schools, real transformation is visible within the first two weeks of training. By teaching educators to identify triggers and adjust the environment proactively, classrooms see a consistently low level of challenging behaviors. There is no punishment, no physical restraint, and a drastic reduction in yelling or crying.

If a child with high social anxiety begins showing physical signs of agitation due to a classroom visitor, the adults do not wait for a meltdown. They immediately redirect the visitor and focus on rebuilding the child’s sense of safety. Video recording is utilized not for surveillance, but for self-assessment, allowing educators to review their interactions and ensure their approach remains compassionate and assent-based.

Raising Autonomous Futures

The implications of this shift extend far beyond a peaceful classroom. The ultimate responsibility of parents and educators is not to ensure a child can quietly trace their name at a desk; it is to raise intelligent, capable human beings. For neurodivergent children, the stakes are even higher.

“Our job is to equip them with the resilience and life skills they need to navigate a world that will not always be friendly or accommodating to their needs,” Lopez-Brooks explains. “If we do not have the patience to teach and empower them now, we are setting them up to fail when they are eventually expected to navigate life autonomously.”

The transition from a compliance-driven classroom to a collaborative, assent-based environment requires a fundamental shift in adult mindset. Parents and teachers must become detectives of their own behaviors. Before a child’s frustration turns into a full-blown alert, adults must slow down and listen to what the behavior is communicating. Whether it is a hidden academic deficiency, a noisy environment, or a recent change at home, the behavior is a signal, not a personal attack. Until adults stop blaming children for their reactions to the environments we have built for them, the true work of teaching and learning cannot begin.