Researcher to study effectiveness of Indiana's bullying law

James Brown

Jan. 27, 2009 - Does Indiana’s anti-bullying law help parents keep their children safe in school or is it a paper tiger that does little to assist victims?

That’s the question James R. Brown, a researcher in the Ph.D program at the Indiana School of Social Work, hopes to better understand through a study focusing on the parents of Indiana middle school students.

Indiana adopted an anti-bullying legislation in 2005 and is one of at least 37 states that have such laws.

On the surface, the law has elements that would seemingly address bullying head on. Among other things, the law established a statutory definition of bullying; setup an education outreach and training initiative under the Indiana Safe School Fund; prohibits the act of bullying with the discipline policies and procedures issued by school corporations.

But does it help?

In Indiana, that’s hard to tell, Brown says. “If you want to find out how many schools had reported cases of bullying, in Indiana, nobody knows,” Brown noted. “It’s not mandated that anybody keep track.” Some states like Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington, keep a record on bullying reports. Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, and Utah, mandate the school principal to investigate a report of bullying in a reasonable amount of time. Further, in seven states (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia) the bullying is substantiated, the parent of the victim is notified.

Brown wants to talk to middle school parents who have gone into school to report to a school official that their child has been bullied. The study is to collect data to better assist parents, school officials, and law makers who have a vested interest in lowering the occurrence of school bullying.

Brown is focusing on middle schools in the study in part because he spent time working in middle schools in Michigan before coming to the IU School of Social Work. He began working as a special education school social worker in 1993 where he served schools in four districts spread across three counties in Northern Michigan.

He then moved to a different school district in 1995 as an at-risk school social worker where he began dealing directly with the issue of bullying. There Brown worked directly with bullies and victims, making efforts to hold bullies accountable for their behaviors.

Middle school is an environment that lends itself to bullies. “It’s kind of a combat zone, where there is a transition out of elementary into middle school, which causes upheaval in the hierarchy, where people are renegotiating for status and where they will fit in.”

“I am looking for parent participants, whether they have had positive, negative or otherwise experiences,” he said of reporting a bullying incident to school officials.

“I think it will be interesting to see what is found out of this, how do we understand what is really happening here from a parent’s point of view.” 

“I want to hear that story and ask questions about it. Was the law a factor in any of this,” and “did they even know there was a law,” Brown explained. “We don’t know what is happening under the umbrella of the anti-bullying legislation that is designed to reduce bullying.”

Brown has questions about the law’s effectiveness. “When I look at the law I see nothing that is going to help the parent.”

The law contains tough language right up until the end, Brown explained. He is referring to a paragraph that appears after various definitions and other action about anti-bullying efforts reads, “This section may not be construed to give rise to a cause of action against a person or school corporation based on an allegation of noncompliance with this section. Noncompliance with this section may not be used as evidence against a school corporation in cause of action.”

This seems to communicate that a school or the personnel in that school are not mandated to put the law and its intent into practice. When a school is found not to have complied, the message is that schools may not be held accountable for lack of implementation. Further, without accountability in keeping track of bullying reports, how can anyone know if improvements or adjustments to the law are needed, Brown wonders.

Now, he hopes the results of his study could do just that. “My hopes are depending upon what the study finds is it can be influential in further crafting legislation that makes not only in Indiana schools more responsive, but any state.

Brown intends to seek out stories of parents between now and July of 2009. People can contact him by calling (317-557-2073) or at jrb2@iupui.edu. For more information about Brown and study, visit his web page at http://www.iupui.edu/~isfk400/james/james.html