Bullying & Harrassment
My son is being bullied by some of his classmates. What is the school required to do to ensure that the bullying doesn’t continue?
Bullying is serious and harmful behavior that can interfere with your son’s education as well as his social and emotional well being. To ensure students are safe in school and to prohibit bullying and harassment, several laws have been passed in Vermont. Act 113 requires schools to maintain a safe learning environment for all its students and covers a broad range of school discipline issues. Act 91 mandates schools to adopt and enforce harassment policies and procedures that provide clear guidelines for reporting and investigating harassment complaints. Protections against bullying are included in Act 117, which obligates schools to develop written policies to prevent bullying. In addition federal laws, such as Titles VI and IX of the Civil Rights Act, compel schools to prevent harassment and to follow the law.
When harassment or bullying takes place, parents should encourage their child to report incidents to school personnel directly or anonymously. Your child’s school must provide a means for students to anonymously file a complaint. Complaints regarding bullying or harassment may also be made by school staff, parents/guardians, or others who believe an incident may have happened. After an incident is reported to school personnel verbally or in writing, it must be considered as a complaint. It’s a good idea to put a complaint in writing and keep a copy for your records.Under Act 91, the school has 24 hours to notify you that your child was involved in a harassment incident and to give you a written copy of its harassment policies and procedures. Within one day after receiving the complaint, the principal is required to conduct an investigation of the incident, unless there are special circumstances that prevent this from happening. By the fifth day, unless there are special documented circumstances, the school should have completed its investigation and given a written report to the principal or superintendent. A copy of this report must also be provided to the parent.
If you disagree with the results of the investigation, you have the right to appeal to the superintendent, request a different review of the complaint by a trained independent reviewer, request mediation or other alternate dispute resolution from the school, contact the Department of Education’s Safe and Healthy School Team at (802) 828-0371, consult with a private attorney, or contact the Vermont Human Rights Commission at (800) 416-2010 or the office of Civil Rights at (617) 223-9667.More about bullying
Each school must have a comprehensive plan for responding to student behavior that includes bullying. Information about school discipline policies and procedures is usually found in the student handbook, provided to parents at the beginning of each school year.
Bullying is considered “any overt act or combination of acts directed against a student by another student or groups of students and which is repeated over time, is intended to humiliate, or intimidate the student; and occurs during the school day on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity, or before or after the school day on a school bus or at a school-sponsored activity.” (Act 117)
The following are some examples of behaviors that the school can address even though the behaviors occurred off school grounds:
• possession, consumption, or sale of illegal substances
• harassment
• hazing
• criminal conduct, and
• violations of rules governing eligibility to participate in school sponsored activities.
Reading the school handbook policies should direct you to steps for reporting bullying behaviors and to keep your child safe and able to learn in a helpful and healthy environment.
The Vermont Family Network has a packet on bullying that is free of charge to parents. If you would like a copy or have any questions, please call us at (802) 876-5315.