Schools prepare for legislative changes affecting bullying reports, absenteeism

INDIANAPOLIS — As kids start heading back to school, Indiana educators are preparing for several key legislative changes potentially affecting their students’ learning environment and wellbeing.

One state law seeks to address the growing number of bullying incidents reported statewide. During the 2023-2024 school year, Indiana schools reported 7,700 instances of bullying. According to the Indiana Department of Education, that’s the highest level seen in 10 years. That state law, which passed this spring, stipulates that schools must notify parents of alleged bullying incidents by the time school ends the day after staff first learned of the incident.

Schools must notify the parents of the alleged bullying victim and the alleged bully.

“Up until this year, that law was five days,” Aleksandra Appleton with Chalkbeat Indiana said. “They had five days to let you know they’ve been made aware of a bullying incident.”

The law also stipulates that schools must let affected parents know when they complete an investigation into an alleged bullying incident.

“The previous law did not address when they needed to be notified of an investigation,” Appleton said.

Another significant change comes in the form of a reading proficiency law that became the focus of the 2024 legislative session. Although the law technically went into effect last year, this is the first year that third-graders who fail the state’s IREAD test will be held back. It’s unclear how many Indiana children will be affected. The next round of IREAD results will be released next week.

“We know that holding students back in the long run in most cases can have a long-term impact on what their outcomes are later in life,” said Jennifer Smith-Margraf, President of the Indiana State Teachers Association

Proponents of the law have said that retention is a last resort, and that the law puts measures in place to catch at-risk students long before they get to third grade.

“This is really an all-hands-on-deck approach where the kindergarten teacher, first grade teacher, second grade teacher — there are accountability measures in those grades now with screening,” said Kymyona Burke, a Senior Policy Fellow at ExcelinEd. “By the time that they’re in third grade, they have received the interventions and supports and their reading difficulties have been addressed or even remedied by that time.”

This year, the General Assembly also strengthened a law to tackle excessive absenteeism. The law requires schools to talk to parents if their child has five unexcused absences in 10 weeks. According to Smith-Margraf, as long as you’re following your school’s attendance policies, you should be in the clear.

“Each individual corporation does it slightly differently — they have all the procedures outlined,” Smith-Margraf said. “If you want accurate information, make sure that you have that from them.”