Between January 19th and May 4th, 2023, Indiana House Bill 1608 was developed, amended, signed, and put into action. This bill states that schools are required to inform parents if a student wants to change their name or pronouns. 

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board took it a step further, requiring school staff to use a student's name as listed in Skyward. Additionally, students are now expected to request parental approval rather than just notifying them. This means that a student named ‘Jonathan’ must have their parents / guardians change his name in Skyward to ‘Jon’, if that is the nickname he wishes to go by. This policy affects countless students in the district by adding an unnecessary step just to be called a shortened form of their name.

This also affects the transgender community. If a student ‘Brooklyn’ wishes to go by ‘Braden’, and change their pronouns from ‘She / Her / Hers’ to ‘He / Him / His’, they must request that their parent change it. For some, this is just inconvenient. But for those who don’t have a good family situation at home, they may not be able to change their name or pronouns without backlash and harsh consequences.

Teachers also find this annoying. They want to call you ‘Will’ instead of ‘William’ if that is what you prefer. But now they can’t. If you are think “Why can’t teachers just ignore the rule, it’s not like anybody will know,” you’re wrong. The school board has planted whistleblowing students among us who will report teachers for not following the rule.

It is important that issue is resolved quickly, or many students will be left uncomfortable when a name they don’t align with is called during attendance. This also creates a general inconvenience for students, staff, and parents. Without the students and teachers, there would be no school district. That is why our voices are so important. Even if this issue doesn’t directly affect you, it affects your classmates and teachers.