Local educators are reacting to a first-in-the-nation ruling ensuring that teachers dealing with disciplining students have state legal defense when sued.
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill into law on Monday. It includes an official notification process.
House Enrolled Act 1462 grants educators legal immunity from lawsuits related to disciplinary action and creates the first of its kind notification process to ensure teachers are afforded state legal defense when sued.
"We need a safe and orderly environment for our children to learn," Hammond School Superintendent Walter Watkins said.
"I believe that teachers, in completing their duties and responsibilities, need to know they have some legal support behind them. Sometimes, one of the things that may keep teachers from becoming more involved in resolving student discipline is their concern about what could happen to them," Watkins said, adding he intends to review the law in detail.
In Gary, school spokeswoman Sarita Stevens said the district has had incidents where a parent jumped on a teacher following a student disciplinary incident and instances where the district has been sued over disciplinary issues.
Last month, during a parent conference with Interim Superintendent Myrtle Steele, the uncle of a Brunswick Elementary School first-grader pushed the superintendent when he didn't like her response over a student-transfer request. Police were called, and the man was arrested, Stevens said.
The bill also expands the authority of teachers to remove disruptive students from their classrooms and creates a rigorous process to return a student to a classroom that includes a teacher and parents.
Some educators have told lawmakers that parents of disruptive students often threaten to sue when teachers try to keep them from acting up or leaving their seats.
The measure gives teachers "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 school districts to waste time and money defending themselves.
The Indiana attorney general's office will offer a hot line number for teachers to use to ask for assistance on legal matters and send a letter to teachers annually to advise and remind them of their rights under the new law.
The law also will require school districts to expand criminal history background checks before employing new staff members.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
