La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXV-1303

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section CXV-1303 - Bullying

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.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXV-1303

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 39:477 (March 2013), amended LR 39:3259 (December 2013), Amended LR 49250 (2/1/2023), Repromulgated LR 49856 (5/1/2023).

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.