By Mike Smith
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — When a student once put teacher Angie Morgan in a choke hold, she said she waited for another adult to remove the student instead of acting on her own because she was afraid of hurting the child and being sued.
She was among those in the governor’s office Monday when Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill that proponents say will give teachers more legal protections for trying to maintain discipline in schools.
“I think this is going to give the support we need without having that fear in the background,” said Morgan, who teaches third grade for Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
The bill was the only plank of Daniels’ legislative agenda to pass during the regular session of the General Assembly that ended April 29.
Some educators have told lawmakers that parents of disruptive students often threaten to sue when teachers try to keep them from acting up or otherwise disrupting school activities.
The new law will give teachers so-called “qualified immunity” from lawsuits when they take reasonable actions to impose classroom discipline.
That means judges can dismiss such lawsuits at the beginning of the legal process, rather than forcing teachers or schools to spend time and money defending themselves.
The law also requires the state schools superintendent to notify teachers annually that they have qualified immunity for reasonable acts of discipline, and that the state attorney general may defend teachers against lawsuits involving discipline.
Daniels said he made the bill part of his agenda after visiting numerous schools around the state.
“Gradually I came to understand that they did not resemble the classrooms that I knew or even that I think my children were in, and that a level of disobedience and disorder — even physical abuse of our teachers — had crept in and that folks did not feel confident in dealing with it,” Daniels said at the bill-signing ceremony.
“Education cannot start until disorder stops,” he said.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller said the new law will be a step toward ending frivolous lawsuits in school discipline cases, and that his office will aggressively defend such suits.
Daniels acknowledged on the day after the legislative session that most of his agenda items did not clear the General Assembly, but he did mention that the school discipline bill did pass.
Three of his biggest items — overhauling the structure of local government, having the Legislature take the next step toward amending caps on property tax bills into the state constitution, and a new budget that he considered balanced — did not win approval.
Not passing a two-year budget on time means Daniels will call lawmakers back into special session before the fiscal year ends on June 30 to draft a new spending plan. Daniels has not specifically said when he will call the special session.
Local Education
New Indiana law gives teachers more legal protections
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Academic Accolades: May 27
A compilation of academic news as published in the Sunday edition of The Herald Bulletin.
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Well-behaved students rewarded with carnival
A “Can you survive the yuck?” game was one of many offered at the Student Appreciation Program held inside and on the outdoor grounds of AHS on Friday.
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Indiana Christian Academy students look ahead to summer
Tantalizing Florida vacations filled with sun, sand, sea and Disney shimmered like diamonds strewn across a distant shore for several kids awaiting pickup on the last day of classes at Indiana Christian Academy Thursday.
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AHS rewarding well-behaved students
Anderson High School is holding its Student Appreciation Program (SAP) Friday for students who meet or surpass several requirements.
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AHS will hold student appreciation day
Anderson High School is holding its Student Appreciation Program Friday for students who meet or surpass several requirements.
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Anderson High School choir to sing with Foreigner
When Julie Wood received an email from Hoosier Park Racing & Casino about an “exciting opportunity,” the Anderson High School director of choral activities thought it was a joke.
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Haffner becomes 44th winner of Red Haven Award
Pendleton Heights now has both the old and the new Red Haven Award trophy for its case at school.
When PH’s Ellie McCardwell won the award in 2010, the long-standing trophy was retired, and because the Arabians had the last winner, the school was able to permanently house that hardware.
On Tuesday, when the Anderson Noon Exchange Club presented the 2012 winner, it went to Pendleton Heights’ Abbie Haffner. So for the next 12 months, PH will be home to both the new traveling trophy, first presented a year ago to Lapel’s Leigh Steele, and the old one. -
Anderson Learning Academy withdraws charter application
When Anderson Learning Academy’s board first started seeking charter status, it was to help make changes in education as graduation rates and ISTEP scores were low in the public school system.
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Haffner, McFerran get Dickmann Awards
Alexandria-Monroe High School senior Michael McFerran and Pendleton Heights senior Abbie Haffner received the annual Dickmann Youth Community Service Awards on Tuesday during the Anderson Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon at Anderson Country Club.
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Historic Preservation Commission turns down school board
Arguments were made over historical significance, sentimental value, structural stability, safety and finances during a Historic Preservation Commission meeting Monday evening discussing whether to grant South Madison Community Schools board’s proposal to demolish the former middle school at 301 S. East St.
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Academic Accolades: May 27
