Indiana: IN House bill would limit school suspensions; calls for 'positive discipline' system

Feb 5, 2018, Chicago Tribune: Indiana House passes bill to limit school suspensions, expulsions http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-inlegis-house-discipline-school-st-0206-20180205-story.html A bill looking to reduce suspensions, expulsions and school arrests unanimously passed the House on Monday. … State data provided to lawmakers show schools suspended more than 100,000 students on average each year between 2015 and 2017 — about one in 10 statewide. Nearly 3,000 children were expelled each year during that period. … Following a national trend, the bill would require the state department of education would provide a framework for schools starting in 2019-2020 to develop an "evidence-based plan" emphasizing positive discipline strategies and restorative practices to deescalate behavioral problems before it leads to suspensions, expulsions or school arrests. … The goal is to have school districts — with parental feedback — develop a graduated "positive discipline" system that leads to punishment and lost school time only as a last resort. It also requires schools to factor in the role that formative traumatic stress plays on student behavior. …