School complaint tracking measure passes unanimously in Louisiana House

A bill to require public schools to create complaint-tracking systems has made its way out of the Louisiana House on Monday. 

House Bill 340, authored by Rep. Tammy Phelps, D-Shreveport, would allow parents to be able to keep tabs on complaints they file regarding school incidents. 

While schools have always been required to publish their policy and process for receiving complaints, they were not required to provide an easy way for parents to know where they were in the process after filing the complaint. 

When a complaint is filed, schools are currently required to obtain the name, phone number, address and email of the complainant. Schools are supposed to update parents, but many parents complain they never hear back, Phelps said when her bill was in committee last week. 

The proposal originally required complaints to be assigned a unique reference number, but the provision was removed in committee. Phelps said schools could use tracking systems they already have in place for matters such as attendance or discipline. 

The bill passed unanimously and now moves to the Senate.