Window to notify parents of school bullying could tighten under Indiana House bill

Parents could receive notice of school bullying incidents sooner under a bill passed by the House Education Committee this week. HB 1539 also broadens the state’s definition of bullying to encompass severe one-time acts, even if they are not repeated.

Indiana code currently defines bullying as overt, unwanted and repeated acts or gestures. The bill changes that definition to overt, unwanted acts or gestures that are repeated or occur one time but to a degree of severity.

Rep. Vernon Smith (D-Gary), the bill’s author, said the change is necessary because some severe bullying incidents are not counted since they are not repeated actions.

The bill also says schools must tell the parents of the bullied student and the alleged perpetrator about incidents within one business day after they occur. Current law gives them five days.

Smith said the change is important because kids might not tell their parents right away or at all if they’re being bullied. He said he experienced that firsthand with a child in his mentoring program.

“One of the boys has been bullied since he was in middle school. He is now a sophomore in high school, and his mother didn’t even know that he was being bullied,” Smith said.

He said suffering in silence can worsen students’ mental health and lead to dire consequences like young people taking their own lives.
 

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Some school associations said they need time to investigate incidents before reaching out to parents and one day is not long enough.

“As you’re going through the investigation and trying to determine what really happened, a lot of times parents want to first know immediately who was [their] child in conflict with, and then they want to handle that on their own — which is not what we want from a school standpoint,” said Cindy Long, assistant executive director of the Indiana Association of School Principals. “We want to be able to handle that investigation in an impartial way.”

Rep. Becky Cash (R-Zionsville), one of the bill’s co-authors, said parents still have a right to know, especially when their child is injured.

“It’s time for everybody, including the schools, to come to the table to help find a solution for this. Because it’s not working,” she said.

Cash mentioned an incident where her own child was hit with a ball during gym class. She said the school investigated the incident to ensure it was not bullying. However, in the meantime, no one told her son was hurt.

“By the time he got home, he couldn’t walk,” she said. “Now, he had gotten a concussion in gym. At the end of the day, it was not bullying. It was not likely intentional. But we were not called to be made aware of that fact he was injured.”

The bill also includes a provision that allows schools to determine the severity of a bullying incident and transfer the victim or alleged perpetrator to another school within the corporation if certain conditions are met.

Additionally, an amendment to the bill that was approved this week would also require public schools to notify parents within 24 hours if a student makes a misconduct allegation against an employee. If that allegation is dismissed or determined to be unsubstantiated, the school must notify the employee and a parent of the student who made the allegation within 14 days.

The bill now moves to the full House.
 

Kirsten is Indiana Public Broadcasting's education reporter. Contact her at kadair@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @kirsten_adair.