The Indiana House of Representatives on Thursday supported State Rep. Donna Schaibley’s (R-Carmel) legislation that would provide additional safeguards to prevent coaches with a history of misconduct from working with students.
Schaibley
Schaibley worked with the Indiana Department of Education (DOE) the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) on this proposal after learning that former educators who have had their teaching licenses revoked or suspended might be able to relocate to another school and find a job as a coach.
Under House Bill 1209, the Department of Education would notify the IHSAA of any teacher license revocation or suspension. School corporations would also report to the IHSAA any unlicensed, nonteaching or volunteer coach who is convicted of a criminal offense or commits misconduct with a student.
According to Schaibley, the association would then decide whether to revoke or suspend the coaching accreditation of those individuals and create a database to collect this information. Before adding a new coach, all schools would contact the IHSAA to check this database.
“We have thousands of great coaches throughout the state working with student athletes every day,” Schaibley said. “School corporations already require a background check when hiring coaches, but these checks only provide a look at someone’s official recorded criminal history. Acts of misconduct with children that do not rise to a criminal offense do not show up on background check. Because of this people who should not be working with our young people may be able to slip through the cracks. This is just one additional measure to keep out the few bad actors that present a risk.”
Schaibley’s proposal now moves to the Senate for further consideration. For more information, visit iga.in.gov.
State Rep. Donna Schaibley (R-Carmel) represents House District 24, which includes portions of Boone and Hamilton counties.