Leadership Matters August 2014

New school year includes new laws

There were close to 100 bills passed by the General Assembly last spring that could affect public schools and, as of this writing, many of them are still waiting for the governor to sign them into law. A complete list of those bills can be found in the Digest of Bills Passed compiled by IASB for the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance. Here are seven bills that we want to highlight heading into the new school year:

Diane Hendren IASA Director of Governmental Relations

Bullying Policy (HB 5707) This bill became effective on June 26 and adds criteria for a school’s bullying policy, including, among other things:  School contact numbers and email addresses and a procedure to allow for anonymous reporting of bullying.  Procedures for promptly informing parents or guardians of all students involved in an alleged bullying incident and informing them about services, interventions and restorative measures that are available.  Procedures for prompt investigation of a bullying incident, including “reasonable” efforts to complete the investigation within 10 days;  Interventions that can be taken to address bullying;  A statement prohibiting reprisal or retaliation against those who reports acts of bullying;  Consequences and appropriate remedial actions for persons falsely accusing another person of bullying as means of retaliation or means of bullying;  Including a wide range of stakeholders, including students and parents or guardians, in the development of the bullying policy;  Posting the policy on the school website and in the student handbook and distributing the policy annually to students, parents and guardians and school personnel, including new employees when hired;  A policy evaluation process to evaluate outcomes and effectiveness of the policy that includes, among other things, frequency of

victimization, identification of areas of school where bullying occurs, and the types of bullying that occur. Information collected as part of the evaluation process must be included on the school district website or disseminated to stakeholders; and  A listing of the restorative measures used by the school district. Report on Student Discipline (SB 2793) This bill was sent to the governor in late June and, if signed, requires that beginning with the 2014- 15 school year ISBE will analyze data collected on the issuance of out-of-school suspensions, expulsion and removals to alternative settings in lieu of another disciplinary action to determine districts in the top 20 percent of each metric. Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, each of the districts identified in the top 20 percent for the previous three consecutive years must submit a board-approved plan identifying the strategies the district will implement to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline practices, racial disproportionality or both. CPR/AED Training Requirement (HB 3724) This bill became effective on July 1 and requires that beginning in the 2014-15 school year that schools include in their high school health education classes training on how to properly administer

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