Section 6-129 - Guidelines for antibias training program(a)(1) The Department shall develop guidelines for an antibias training program for school employees.(2) The guidelines developed under this subsection shall:(ii) Incorporate lessons in cultural awareness;(iii) Aim to reduce implicit bias;(iv) Be culturally responsive to the needs of educators and students;(v) Raise awareness of biases, prejudices ,intolerances, and discrimination faced by African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Americans, and other historically marginalized racial and ethnic minorities;(vi) Combat prejudices faced by historically marginalized religious minorities, including antisemitism and Islamophobia;(vii) Seek to achieve schools that are more inclusive and tolerant of students, faculty , and staff regardless of an individual's race, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion , ancestry , physical attributes, socioeconomic status, familial status, or disability; and(viii) Be evidence-based .(3) In developing the guidelines, the Department shall incorporate lessonslearned from real life incidents of discriminatory bullying, harassment , or intimidation reported in accordance with § 7-424 of this article.(4) The Department periodically shall update the guidelines required under this subsection.(b)(1) Each county board shall, in consultation with teachers and other public school employees, develop an antibias training based on the guidelines developed under subsection (a) of this section.(2) If the county board has an antibias training in place before the Department issues its guidelines, the county board shall, in consultation with teachers and other public school employees, update its training to incorporate the practices identified in the guidelines.(c)(1) Every other year, each county board shall train each public school employee whose job duties include frequent interaction with students using its antibias training.(2) Antibias training shall be job-embedded, paid professional development training that is provided during nonteaching time.(3) To the extent practicable, the training shall: (i) Be offered in a peer-to -peer setting;(ii) Take a half day or less to complete; and(iii) Incorporate lessons learned from incidents of bullying, harassment , or intimidation in the county, reported in accordance with § 7-424 of this article. Added by 2024 Md. Laws, Ch. 128,Sec. 1, eff. 7/1/2024.