Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board members voted Monday to schedule a work session to discuss Policy D525, a policy regarding reporting school employee injuries.
The policy establishes a clear and transparent process for reporting employee injuries caused by student, parent or staff conduct, supports data collection for continuous improvement and ensures compliance with Indiana School Employee injury report requirements established by the Indiana Department of Education and state law, according to the draft policy.
The first reading of the draft policy was Monday night, with the second reading to be held March 30.
“According to the board policy on passing policies, we need to post any proposed policy two weeks prior to the first reading and that was done two weeks prior to tonight and so it’s been posted since that time,” BCSC Superintendent Chad Phillips said. “Next steps would be for the board, according to our policy, for the board to determine if anyone wishes to schedule a work session on this topic between now and the second reading.”
Board vice president Dale Nowlin, District 4, made a motion for the board to hold a work session on this policy. No objections were raised.
In 2023, a new state law, IC 20-26-5-42, was passed that requires each public school to provide data of school employees on the job who were injured by a student in the previous school year to the Indiana Department of Education. Reports through this policy collect data on three types of incidents and the total number of unique incidents.
The three types include the number of incidents where a school employee’s injury was required to be reported to the public school’s worker compensation carrier, the number of incidents where a school employee’s injury caused them to miss all or part of one or more work days and the number of incidents where a school employee’s injury was required to be reported to the public school pursuant to the school’s reporting policy.
According to BCSC’s policy, the school board will designate a corporation administrator to collect and maintain records of each unique employee injury incident in which a school employee, or any volunteer or person employed by the school on a full-time, part-time or temporary basis, is injured by a person on the job, or when they were acting within the scope of their employment or assigned duties.
Person in the policy is defined as anyone who attends school as a student, employed by or volunteers with the corporation as an employee or volunteer or is in attendance at a school event or function. That can include student family members, community members and spectators.
Incidents should be collected and recorded for each school year from July 1 through June 30. The policy lists the following types of injury incidents that shall be collected:
- A person intentionally or recklessly causes or threatens physical contact to a school employee that would reasonably be expected to cause physical pain, suffering or harm regardless of whether the contact results in visible marks, diagnosable injury or the need for medical treatment.
- A school employee receives first aid, counseling, medical evaluation or medical treatment as a result of student conduct.
- A person uses or attempts to use an object, instrument, social media, weapon or other item to cause physical harm to a school employee.
- A school employee is place on modified duties, restricted duties or provided temporary workplace accommodations as a result of a person’s conduct.
- A school employee misses all or part of one or more work days as a result of the injury.
- A school employee’s injury is reported to the corporation’s worker’s compensation carrier.
- Any other incident involving physical contact, force or injury by a person against a school employee that the school determines is relevant to employee safety, risk management or compliance with state reporting requirements.
Multiple injury incident types may apply to a single employee injury incident, but each incident will be counted only once for purposes of aggregate reporting, the policy says. A school employee who experiences an injury incident as described will report the incident as soon as practicable to their supervisor and/or facility nurse.
Reports will include the date, time and location of the incident, a description of what occurred, any first aid, medical evaluation or medical treatment as a result of the incident, any work that has been missed or is expected to be missed as a result of the incident and any identifying information of the person involved in the incident.
The corporation administrator designated to collect these incidents will inform school employees of their ability to file a worker’s compensation claim. They will also provide a summary of the incident to the school board as soon as practicable if the report indicates that work was missed or will be missed because of the incident, the school employee chooses to file a worker’s compensation claim or the school employee is placed on modified duties, restricted duties or provided temporary workplace accommodations as a result of the person’s conduct.
The school board, upon receiving a summary of an incident, will convene an executive session to discuss the incident, any potential action against the person, an update on the school employee’s injury and, if appropriate, the estimated date of the school employee’s return to work.
The corporation administrator and the school board are strictly prohibited from any retaliatory conduct or taking adverse action against a school employee for submitting an incident report or filing a worker’s compensation claim, the policy says.
Internal reports will be taken each month, at the end of the semester and at the end of the school year. At the final regular board meeting before June 30, the corporation administrator will submit a year-end report containing a comprehensive summary of all reportable incidents occurring during the school year.
The administrator will also provide the board with a draft of the report to be submitted to the Indiana Department of Education for review and approval. On June 30, the corporation administrator will submit the approved report to the Department.
A committee of safety and security team leaders, school board members, school faculty and staff, and parents of students will be appointed by the board to review this policy, monthly reports, end-of-semester reports and end-of-year reports. Based on those reports, the committee will create and present recommendations of changes to the policy or school safety improvement plans to the school board.
In a report from 2023-2024 school year, BCSC reported 142 incidents, which was the second highest total included in the report behind Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., which had 149 incidents. However, more than 100 public school districts didn’t report any data at all, and those who did were not as comprehensive in their reporting as BCSC was, according to school district officials.
BCSC’s data entry lists 142 across all categories with the exception of the second column regarding injuries suffered by teachers that caused them to miss work. According to Erin Stalbaum, BCSC assistant superintendent for Human Resources, that exception is because BCSC reported zero such incidents during that year.
Of the 142 incidents, 124 were information-only first reports of injury and 18 were medical-only first reports of injury. Zero indemnity-only first reports of injury were reported during the 2023-2024 school year.
