Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 3, March 20, 2024
A. Policy. Each LEA
shall develop and adopt a policy that prohibits the bullying of a student by
another student.
1. The bullying policy shall
be implemented in a manner that is ongoing throughout the year and integrated
with a school's curriculum, a school's discipline policies, and other violence
prevention efforts.
2. The policy
shall contain the definition of bullying found in this Section and shall
address the following:
a. behavior
constituting bullying;
b. the
effect the behavior has on others, including bystanders; and
c. the disciplinary and criminal consequences
of bullying another student.
B. Training for School Personnel. Each LEA
shall create a program to provide a minimum of four hours of training each year
for new school employees who have contact with students, including bus drivers,
with respect to bullying. The training shall be two hours each following year
for all school employees who have contact with students and have received the
four hour training. The training shall specifically include the following:
1. how to recognize the behaviors defined as
bullying;
2. how to identify
students at each grade level who are most likely to become victims of bullying,
while not excluding any student from protection from bullying;
3. how to use appropriate intervention and
remediation techniques and procedures;
4. the procedures by which incidents of
bullying are to be reported to school officials; and
5. information on suicide prevention,
including the relationship between suicide risk factors and bullying.
C. Definition of Bullying
1.
Bullying is defined as a
pattern of one or more of the following behaviors:
a. gestures, including but not limited to
obscene gestures and making faces;
b. written, electronic, or verbal
communications, including but not limited to calling names, threatening harm,
taunting, malicious teasing, or spreading untrue rumors;
c. physical acts, including but not limited
to hitting, kicking, pushing, tripping, choking, damaging personal property, or
unauthorized use of personal property; and
d. repeatedly and purposefully shunning or
excluding from activities.
2. Behavior defined as bullying is exhibited
toward a student, more than once, by another student or group of students and
occurs, or is received by, a student while on school property, at a
school-sponsored or school-related function or activity, in any school bus or
van, at any designated school bus stop, in any other school or private vehicle
used to transport students to and from schools, or any school-sponsored
activity or event.
3. Bullying must
have the effect of physically harming a student, placing the student in
reasonable fear of physical harm, damaging a student's property, placing the
student in reasonable fear of damage to the student's property, or must be
sufficiently severe, persistent, and pervasive enough to either create an
intimidating or threatening educational environment, have the effect of
substantially interfering with a student's performance in school, or have the
effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the
school.
D. Notice of
Bullying Policy to students and parents. The LEA shall inform each student
orally and in writing of the prohibition against the bullying of a student by
another student, the nature and consequences of such actions, including the
potential criminal consequences and loss of driver's license, and the proper
process and procedure for reporting any incidents of bullying. A copy of the
written notice shall also be delivered to each student's parent or legal
guardian.
E.Reporting Incidents of
Bullying. The LEA shall develop a procedure for the reporting of incidents of
bullying using the bullying report form approved by BESE and available on the
DOE website and the website of each elementary and secondary school. The
procedure shall include the following.
1.
Students and Parents
a. Any student who
believes that he or she is or has been the victim of bullying, or any student
or parent or legal guardian, who witnesses bullying or has good reason to
believe bullying is taking place, may report the bullying to a school
official.
b. A student, or parent
or guardian, may also report concerns regarding bullying to a teacher,
counselor, other school employee, or to any parent chaperoning or supervising a
school function or activity.
c. Any
report of bullying shall remain confidential.
2. School Personnel and Chaperones. Any
teacher, counselor, bus driver, or other school employee, whether full or part
time, and any parent chaperoning or supervising a school function or activity,
who witnesses or who learns of bullying of a student, shall report the incident
to a school official. A verbal report shall be submitted by the school employee
or parent on the same day as the school employee or parent witnessed or
otherwise learned of the bullying incident, and a written report must be filed
no later than two days thereafter.
3. Retaliation. Retaliation against any
person who reports bullying in good faith, who is thought to have reported
bullying, who files a complaint, or who otherwise participates in an
investigation or inquiry concerning allegations of bullying is prohibited
conduct and subject to disciplinary action.
4. False Reports. Making false reports about
bullying to school officials is prohibited conduct and will result in
disciplinary action.
F.
Investigation Procedure. When a report of the bullying of a student by another
student is received, the school shall conduct an investigation using the
following procedure.
1. Timing. The
investigation shall begin the next school day following the day on which the
written report was received and shall be completed no later than 10 school days
after receipt of the report. If additional information is received after the
end of the 10-day period, the school official shall amend all documents and
reports to reflect such information.
2. Parental Notification of Allegation of
Bullying
a. Upon receiving a report of
bullying, the school shall notify the parents or legal guardians of the alleged
offender and the alleged victim no later than the following school
day.
b. Under no circumstances
shall the delivery of this notice to the parent or legal guardian, be the
responsibility of an involved student. Delivery of notice by an involved
student shall not constitute notice as is required by this Section.
c. Before any student under the age of 18 is
interviewed, his parents or legal guardians shall be notified of the
allegations made and shall have the opportunity to attend any interviews
conducted with their child as part of the investigation. If, after three
attempts in a 48-hour period, the parents or legal guardians of a student
cannot be reached or do not respond, the student may be interviewed.
d. All meetings with the parents or legal
guardians of an alleged victim or an alleged offender shall be in compliance
with the following:
i. separate meetings with
the parents or legal guardians of the alleged victim and the alleged
offender;
ii. parents or legal
guardians of the alleged victim and alleged offender must be notified of the
potential consequences, penalties and counseling options.
e. In any case where a school official is
authorized to require a parent or legal guardian of a student under the age of
18 to attend a conference or meeting regarding the student's behavior, and
after notice willfully refuses to attend, the principal or designee shall file
a complaint with a court of competent juvenile jurisdiction, pursuant to
Children's Code article 730(8) and 731.
f. A principal or designee may file a
complaint pursuant to Children's Code article 730(1) or any
other applicable ground when, in his judgment, doing so is in the best
interests of the student.
3. Scope
a.
The investigation shall include documented interviews by the designated school
official of the reporter, the alleged victim, the alleged offender, and any
witnesses.
b. The school official
shall collect and evaluate all facts using the bullying investigation form
approved by BESE and available on the DOE website.
c. The school official shall obtain copies or
photographs of any audio-visual evidence.
4. Documentation. At the conclusion of a
bullying investigation, and after meeting with the parents or legal guardians,
the school official or school board shall:
a.
prepare a written report containing the findings of the investigation,
including input from students' parents or legal guardians, and the decision by
the school official or school system official. The document shall be placed in
the school records of both students. If completed entirely, the bullying
investigation form may serve as the report;
b. promptly notify the reporter/complainant
of the findings of the investigation and whether remedial action has been
taken, if such release of information does not violate the law;
c. keep reports/complaints and investigative
reports confidential, except where disclosure is required by law;
d. maintain reports/complaints and
investigative reports for three years;
e. provide a copy of any reports and
investigative documents to the LEA, as necessary; and
f. provide a copy of any reports and
investigative documents to the appropriate law enforcement officials, as
applicable.
5.
Disciplinary Action. If the school official has determined bullying has
occurred, and after meeting with the parents or legal guardians of the students
involved, the school official shall take prompt and appropriate disciplinary
action against the offender and report criminal conduct to law enforcement, if
appropriate.
6. LEA Reporting
a. The LEA shall electronically report all
such documented incidences of bullying to the DOE using the DOE behavior report
and incidence checklist to document the details of each reported incident of
bullying.
7. Appeal
a. If the school official does not take
timely and effective action, the student, parent, or school employee may report
the bullying incident to the school board. The school board shall begin an
investigation of any properly reported complaint of bullying no later than the
next school day after the board receives the report.
b. If the school board does not take timely
and effective action, the student, parent, or other school employee may report
the bullying incident to the DOE. The DOE shall track the number of reports,
shall notify the superintendent and the president of the LEA, and shall publish
the number of reports by school district on its website.
8. Parental Relief. If four or more reports
of separate incidents of bullying have been made, and no investigation has
occurred, the parent or legal guardian of the alleged victim shall have the
option to request that the student be transferred to another school operated by
the LEA.
a. In order to exercise this option,
the parent or legal guardian shall file a request with the superintendent of
the LEA for the transfer of the student to another school under the LEA's
jurisdiction.
b. The LEA shall make
a seat available at another of its schools within 10 school days of receipt of
the request for a transfer. If the LEA has no other school serving the grade
level of the student, then within 15 school days of receipt of the request, the
superintendent of the LEA shall:
i. inform
the student and the student's parents or legal guardians and facilitate the
student's enrollment in a statewide virtual school;
ii. offer the student placement in a
full-time virtual program or virtual school under the jurisdiction of the
LEA;
iii. enter into a memorandum
of understanding with the superintendent of another LEA to secure a placement
and provide for the transfer of the student to a school serving the grade level
of the student, pursuant to
R.S.
17:105 and 105.1.
c. If no seat or other placement is made
available within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the request by the
superintendent, the parent or legal guardian may request a hearing with the
school board, which shall be public or private at the option of the parent or
legal guardian. The school board shall grant the hearing at its next scheduled
meeting or within 60 calendar days, whichever is sooner.
d. At the end of any school year, the parent
or legal guardian may request that the LEA transfer the student back to the
original school. The LEA shall make a seat available at the school.
G. Failure to Act.
1. Any teacher, counselor, bus operator,
administrator, or other school employee, whether full-or part-time, who
witnesses bullying or who receives a report of bullying from an alleged victim,
and who fails to report the incident to a school official, shall be
investigated by the school governing authority.
2. Any school administrator or official who
fails do any of the following shall be investigated by the school governing
authority:
a. notify a parent or legal
guardian of a report of bullying;
b. investigate a report of bullying in a
timely manner;
c. take prompt and
appropriate disciplinary action against a student that was determined to have
engaged in bullying; or
d. report
criminal conduct to the appropriate law enforcement official.
3. Upon finding a reasonable
expectation that the individual failed to act, the school governing authority
shall suspend the individual without pay.
a.
The length of the suspension shall be determined by the school governing
authority based on the severity of the bullying inflicted on the
victim.
b. The school governing
authority shall report each finding of a failure to report bullying or to act
on such a report to the LDE no later than August first annually, beginning with
August 1, 2023.
c. The report shall
include the length of suspension issued to each employee who failed to report
or to act.
AUTHORITY NOTE:
Promulgated in accordance with
R.S.
17:415,
R.S.
17:416,
R.S.
17:416.13, and
R.S.
17:416.14.