Parents annoyed as pronouns law requires Indiana schools to report all nickname requests
Parents annoyed as pronouns law requires Indiana schools to report all nickname requests
Central Indiana parents share their thoughts about a new law that requires schools to notify them when a student requests a different name or pronouns.
Just in case you thought this was only a Florida problem.
It'd be a real shame if all the students who aren't on board with the intent of that law were to request a different name/pronoun at every opportunity to tie up school personnel with notification paperwork (since HB 1608 Full text, PDF specifies that the notification is to be done in writing). Certainly hope they don't do that or administrators might start complaining to elected officials.
154Crippling public schools with meaningless busu work is a happy side affect for the people that came up with these laws. There has been a GOP led war on oublic education for the past 30 years
26You think administrators are going to be doing this? That's cute. It would be making teachers' lives horrible. Republicans would be thanking you for driving them insane, making their lives worse, and making them think about quitting so they can continue to take public education funding for private charter schools.
18No, I was Bustopher Jones yesterday. Today, I am Jennyanydots.
8
So here’s what we do: we start a TikTok challenge. “Nickname November” or something like that, where you use a different name every day of the month for maximum confusion. Get a couple classes doing it, especially if there are any trans kids in the school, and you can see how far you can stress the system.
For the schools that require physical signatures, that’ll piss people off right quick. For the ones that just use an automated email and call it a day, toss in a twist: have each student loudly announce their new name at the start of every class, AA style. Heck, get the school announcer in on it. “Chess club on Wednesday has been cancelled, and Squidward Jones is now going by Jackie McJackson Johnstone.”
They want a ridiculous law to be followed? Okay, here you go.
109I'm with this in spirit but I don't think I'd encourage that unless I knew one of my kids teachers was lgbtq-phobic. This will be a lot of hassle for a lot of teachers that couldn't give two shits about nicknames and pronouns. Driving them to quit won't change any policies except for policies that push kids into private and charter schools.
24If I were a teacher, I'd rather my students did something maliciously compliant than just go along with this idiot policy in silence. Kids have to learn to stand up for what's right sometime, you know? I want the next generation to know that sometimes, authority really, really needs to be questioned.
42Any respectable teacher will recognize what the students are doing and support it regardless of any added hassle. As a matter of fact, the teachers supporting the students can use this in support by showing the immense waste of time the R-Small-Government bureaucracy is causing, resulting in less time available to actually teach. A proper protest must disrupt.
11I think this assumes that most teachers are otherwise fine and want to go along with it, and also only view themselves as there to transmit data, rather than as role models and sources of love and support for a child.
2
Permanently Deleted
9
I live in Indiana…I had to sign a form yesterday allowing teachers to call my son Ben instead of Benjamin. Otherwise it would literally be illegal. Fuck these fascists…
90Wow government so small it fits in your pocket, so convenient!
Sorry you have to deal with that bs
23Barely an inconvenience for me, I’m enraged for the teachers and students who are being placed in a police state by the republicans. I feel it’s very important for kids to be able to confide in trustworthy adults like a teacher or therapist. They are required by law to report threats of violence or suicide…that’s good enough for me. Imagine if it was mandatory to report if a child discusses their gender or sexuality with you. Seems like that’s where we are headed and that is literally what the Taliban does. Johnny things he might be gay…Jane is having sex. Tell the parents so they can beat or kill them.
13
non-american here. I knew the conservatives in your country were bad but holy shit
59I guarantee there are equally bad conservatives in your country. Keep them very far away from the levers of power.
27they've been in power in one way or another since the 50s. mainstream left-wing politics in this country never really had a chance at any point since we became independent. Going back to the McCarthy days of Magsaysay in the 50s, to Martial Law under Marcos of the 70s, to the Post-Arroyo right-wing dominated politics we have today(23 out of the 24 senate seats are currently held by the conservative government, the House of Representatives isn't any better). Some families have been in power in their regions for centuries.
arguably the most leftist government we had was the post-EDSA C. Aquino Government, and even that was led by someone who was arguably part of the aristocracy, and even then her government suffered around 9 loyalist coups in 6 years until her government eventually shifted to the right.
3
I watched 'Till' last night (if you don't know the story, Emmett Till was lynched when he visited his cousins in Mississippi in the '50s. The murderers were identified by multiple witnesses, but the local jury found them not guilty. Till was a 14 year old black kid whose infraction was telling a white lady she looked like a movie star, and then doing a dog-whistle).
A lot of what was happening back then looks like what is happening to LGBT now. It's wild. They'll keep ramping it up, they aren't anywhere near where they want to be and they have the power and support to make it happen.
22Have you seen the Top Gear US South special where they drive from Miami to New Orleans? A bit old now, but still relevant.
8
To be fair, Indiana basically is Florida, just minus a few alligators.
58A new Indiana law that requires parents to be notified of students' name changes, including nicknames, has caused confusion and annoyance among some parents, while others are angry about the risk it places on transgender students.
(Emphasis mine)
Pretty sure that's the point...
52Sounds like a great way for these kids to learn about civil disobedience. Just file every day for a new name and clog the system to the point of uselessness
52My thoughts exactly.
2
Permanently Deleted
48This isn't "stupid, idiotic stuff." It's malicious. It's to make sure trans kids get the shit kicked out of them by their intolerant parents.
19And if the parents are supportive, then the government simply bans gender affirming care and labels it child abuse a far as the law is concerned. This way if parents are supportive of their trans kid, the government can lock the parents up in prison for child abuse and give the child to an appropriately intolerant foster family.
After all, what's better for a child? To be raised in a loving and accepting environment or to be beaten because they don't conform to what conservatives declare to be "normal"?
14
46Another example of Big government Republicans trying to regulate our lives
44As if that description doesn't apply to democrats...
-40bOtH sIdEs yOu gUyS!!
20The Joke
You
3
The party of small government.
36We hate trans people so much, we're adding "Brazil" levels of bureaucracy over something so benign as wanting to use your established nickname at school. I'm sure that's worth everyone's time.
34Sorry, but you must provide a valid copy of your ID and proof of residence before you can complain about bureaucracy
6
I'd most certainly get a call from the school.
"It says on this form that you want your child to go by Deez at school, can you explain?
"Yeah Deez nuts, stop wasting time with this nonsense "
32Sadly, it's not the schools fault for the waste of time, it's the fuckle-chucks in the legislature. Every single name change request should be routed to the dumbass that authored the bill, then to every other dumbass that voted in favor of it.
21I'm joking of course, but yeah that should be what happens. Worked in the school system and seen that "WTF are you serious?" look in school staff meetings hearing stupid stuff like this get implemented. I actually left because I had enough of dealing with these parents who make this happen and dealing with them was just too much.
Emails, calls, people would come in, they were in the PTA, just always around harassing people over the most petty things. I can't tell you how many grown adults I've seen meltdown in a school front office. The pay sucked, some of the parents were awful , but working with kids was awesome.
7
Admin: Sir, your child has submitted requests for nicknames for all the names in Mambo #5 and That's Not My Name. It's obvious they're wasting resources.
Me: 😭 So proud.
29Shit like this happens when the people directly affected by it are prevented by law from voting to protect their own interests. It's easy to target people who are routinely denied their right to remove your ass from office for it.
29Lower the voting age to 6
8There's no stupid thing a kid could do in the voting booth that old people don't already do regularly.
27When I was 7, in 1984, the school held a mock election. I voted for John Glenn because he was an astronaut and astronauts are cool. Jesse Jackson won because I don't know why, but maybe lowering the voting age to 6 might not work out.
5
The party of small government…
28This is incredibly dumb. And isnt this part of that bullshit "make america great again"?
An extremely popular group of kids in America were on the silver screen back in the day: Spanky, Sunshine Sammy, Pineapple, Bonedust, Skooter, Wheezer, Farina, Chubby, Breezy, Waldo, Porky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa.....
So back when America was "great" kids went by nicknames, alternative names, and everything was fine. But now the government has to be involved?
Oh wait, these laws are made to ostracize and antagonize a marginalized group of people! Thanks big government.
Assholes.
27And isnt this part of that bullshit “make america great again”?
Yup
Indiana is a shithole, as someone from the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes Region/Rust Belt, I can confidently say that place is the worst state in the entire section of the country. It makes Ohio look good.
7
When I was 15 I told my teacher I wanted to be known as DJ, which was definitely not my name.
I wasn't trans, I was a white kid who wanted to be a rapper lol
Thankfully my parents didn't find out about this atrocity
26Well? Are you a rapper now?
15My guess is that it didn't wrap as he expected
2
Moment of silence for all the weird little fans, nerds, and more who are gonna have their lives made worse by a law targeting trans people. Of course, if this law also ensnares neurodivergent kids, that's bonus points in their minds.
3
Ah yes, I can’t wait to be notified of Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;-- nickname.
25the republican party platform is basically suicide bombing at this point. it's a platform of singling out appropriate targets to bully, then hurting everyone but in a way designed to hurt the bullying targets the most. Google "lee atwater speech", it's got a lot of n-bombs in it but it basically outlines the way that republicans are proud to be the party of bullies and monsters.
20You start out in 2005 by saying "t----- t----- t-----." By 2023, you can't say t----. That hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, parents' rights, bathrooms, and all that stuff, and you're getting so abstract. Now, you're talking about nicknames, and all these things you're talking about are totally superficial things and a byproduct of them is, queer folks get hurt more than cishets... "We want to know about kids' nicknames" is much more abstract than even the parents' rights thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "t------ t------ t-------."
6
OMFG. Seriously that's all I can think to say Oh My Fucking God. Not just the potential damage it can do to trans kids, but also just the total fucking waste of time and effort for no fucking purpose but performance. It's like the fucking TSA, not actually doing anything, just making a few idiots feel safer with their little song and dance.
19Indiana, Mike Pence’s Florida
19“We’re sorry Mr. Smith your Nickname Application for “FartLordxxx69” has been rejected by the Middle School Nicknames Appropriations Board. Please report for immediate detention.”
In all seriousness, this will have such a detrimental effect on trans kids and I hope students, parents, teachers, EVERYONE gives this the pushback it deserves.
18"Sir, it says here that your son Michael wants to be called Mike, is that correct?"
"Close, but no. You have to pronounce it Miiiiiiiike or I'll consider it disrespectful to him"
16Ah, like the band Miiike Snow
1
Republicans are doing very well at destroying public schools and the Department of Education. At what point do we turn to violence to remove this threat? Some of us can no longer tolerate their hate-group.
13Get involved in local politics. Vote in every city, county and state election. When that fails. Well…
39This is good advice. You can make a much bigger splash in local politics. Vote. Get educated on local issues. Become an activist. Run for office. Get involved in local community groups. There's only so much your typical individual can do towards national or even state politics, but local involvement is much more impactful.
There's a saying, that the states are the laboratories of democracy. There's often this push to make big scale reforms at the national level, and in some cases that is the right thing. But Congress is perpetually gridlocked. Often it's better to build from the state, county, and local level to fine tune a reform and prove to the country that it is a good idea. Take ranked choice voting. Some states and localities are slowly adopting it without needing permission from Congress.
6
Pronouns law: Parents unhappy Indiana schools must report nicknames
John Green said he's not going to Fishers anytime soon after his book was removed from the teen section, meaning "no Top Golf or IKEA for a while." Elissa Maudlin, Jenny Porter Tilley, Rachel Fradette and Jenna Watson, Wochit
A new Indiana law that requires parents to be notified of students' name changes, including nicknames, has caused confusion and annoyance among some parents, while others are angry about the risk it places on transgender students.
HB 1608, which the legislature passed earlier this year, requires teachers and school administrators to write to parents if their child requests a change of their name, title or pronoun. The notification must happen within five days of receiving the student request. The law went through many changes in the legislature, including specifically targeting transgender students, but was eventually changed to affect any student who wishes to be addressed by a name other than the one given when their parent or guardian registered them for school. Parents who spoke with IndyStar about this new reporting requirement were either confused or annoyed that schools had to spend time notifying them about something they already knew.
Other parents were frightened about what this may mean for transgender students.
'A stunning waste of time'
From the moment Victoria Matsumura was pregnant with her little girl, she was always known as Rosie.
So every year, Rosie, now 8 years old, would return to school and ask teachers to call her that rather than her legal name, Rosemarie.
This year, Rosie’s mom had to log into Hamilton Southeastern’s school management system, Skyward, and provide her daughter’s preferred name on a new form. If she hadn't, a notification would have been sent home to inform her that Rosie asked to be called by a different name.
This “silly” process was a waste of time and just adds another item to the list of things for teachers to worry about, Matsumura said. Rosie’s teacher asked her to make the change because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to call her by her nickname.
“She said, 'Even kids I've known for years I have to do this for,'” Matsumura said.
Similarly, Simon Hammons got an email one afternoon from son Benjamin's school in the Avon Community School Corporation. His child had asked to be called “Ben,” a nickname he has always been known by.
“It’s a stunning waste of time and resources for most parents, and it’s coupled with a group of policies that are openly hostile to transgender students and almost seems like the state wants them punished for being who they are,” Hammons said.
More HamCo news:'Ludicrous': John Green's 'Fault in Our Stars' pulled from young adult shelf in HamCo Joni Heredia had to visit North Central High School, in the Washington Township school district, in the middle of the day to sign a piece of paper proving she knew about her 10th grader's name request.
Heredia’s child is transgender and both had already told the school about their request to use their preferred name instead of their legal name at the beginning of this school year, but the school told Heredia they had to notify her anyway because of the new law.
“My concern is for the other kids and how this could affect them and whether they’re going to be safe in their homes or outside of their homes,” Heredia told IndyStar.
LGBTQ+ advocates have said a record number of bills were filed during the 2023 legislative session that they viewed as harmful to the LGBTQ community and specifically transgender youth.
First day of school at Fishers High SchoolFirst day of school at Fishers High School.
Legal confusion surrounds HB 1608
Attorney Jessica Heiser has been providing training for school districts on how to implement HB 1608 and said that a lot of the districts she is working with are worried about breaking the law. She worked on the general counsel teams for most of the major school districts in Marion and Hamilton counties before moving to consulting work.
“School administrators and educators want clear direction from the legislature,” Heiser said. “They want to know what the rules are, what the definitions are and how to follow them, but this law is the worst kind of law for an educator, because it's so vague and so undefined that it just increases the fear factor.”
Heiser believes part of the reason the law is so vague when it comes to defining what counts as a name change was to avoid any possible violation of the 14th Amendment or Title IX.
“Make it vague enough that it’s not facially discriminatory, but in doing so (they) made it so vague nobody knows how to implement it,” Heiser said.
The ACLU of Indiana filed an appeal Tuesday of a federal judge’s decision to deny the request for a temporary halt to enforcing the law. The lawsuit centers on the part of the law concerning the instruction of human sexuality in pre-K through third grade. Due to the vagueness of the law, Heiser said she has been advising most districts to notify parents of any slight name, title or pronoun change, including the use of initials instead of a full name or the shortening of a name.
The law appears to have no built-in enforcement mechanism, Heiser said, but there is a concern that teachers' licenses could be at risk under the part of Indiana law that says teachers can lose their license for “immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency or willful neglect of duty.”
A spokesperson for state Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, who authored HB 1608, said she would not be providing further comment on the law due to the pending litigation.
Hamilton and Marion County school districts' procedures
IndyStar reached out to a number of Central Indiana school districts to see how they are handling the notification process.
In Carmel Clay Schools, parents were notified before the start of school to update their students' information if needed. Now any requests for a change go through the school’s social workers and administration and an email is sent to families regarding the change.
“Then, pending the nature of the request and if needed, the student and family may work with the school social worker to provide additional gender support,” a spokesperson for Carmel Clay schools said.
In the Hamilton Southeastern School district, an automated email will be sent to parents if a student requests a change. It will explain why they are having to send the notification and how families can update their student’s preferences in Skyward.
“We are trying to ease the burden this type of communication would place on our school counselors, teachers and admin,” a district spokesperson said.
Noblesville Schools’ counseling team will handle notifying parents and providing support and resources for students and families, Marnie Cooke, the district’s spokeswoman, said in an email.
In Marion County, Indianapolis Public Schools did not tell IndyStar what their protocol is for notification. Other Marion County districts said they already had protocols in place or were in the process of creating new ones due to the law. Zionsville Community Schools in Boone County said administrators are going over proper protocols with their teachers before school starts Aug. 14 and would provide it to IndyStar next week.
13Can we just start naming all our kids Satan or Lucifer
10“It’s a stunning waste of time and resources for most parents, and it’s coupled with a group of policies that are openly hostile to transgender students and almost seems like the state wants them punished for being who they are,” Hammons said.
LGBTQ+ advocates have said a record number of bills were filed during the 2023 legislative session that they viewed as harmful to the LGBTQ community and specifically transgender youth.
God, I'm so tired of these naive-ass quotes and article tones that completely miss that yes, literally, that is the point. Like they're not literally calling trans people monsters while they debate these laws.
10I can't imagine my parents being forced to sign a piece of paper allowing my basketball coach to call be "Big ".
9Every parent should fill out a form for John Barron.
7Sounds like a perfect opportunity for malicious compliance.
7Permanently Deleted
7Let's just refer to my son as El Conquistador for the rest of his time in school. This could be entertaining.
7Anyone with half a brain saw that this would happen.
4