§ 13 — Policies and guidelines

New York § 13

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law EDN: Education
• Title 1: General Provisions Article 1 Short Title and Definitions (§§
• Art. 2: Dignity For All Students

Text

§ 13. Policies and guidelines. The board of education and the trustees\nor sole trustee of every school district shall create policies,\nprocedures and guidelines that shall include, but not be limited to:\n 1. Policies and procedures intended to create a school environment\nthat is free from harassment, bullying and discrimination, that include\nbut are not limited to provisions which:\n a. identify the principal, superintendent or the principal's or\nsuperintendent's designee as the school employee charged with receiving\nreports of harassment, bullying and discrimination;\n b. enable students and parents to make an oral or written report of\nharassment, bullying or discrimination to teachers, administrators and\nother school personnel that the school district deems appropriate;\n c. require school employees who witness harassment, bullying or\ndiscrimination, or receive an oral or written report of harassment,\nbullying or discrimination, to promptly orally notify the principal,\nsuperintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee not later\nthan one school day after such school employee witnesses or receives a\nreport of harassment, bullying or discrimination, and to file a written\nreport with the principal, superintendent or the principal or\nsuperintendent's designee not later than two school days after making\nsuch oral report;\n d. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or\nsuperintendent's designee to lead or supervise the thorough\ninvestigation of all reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination,\nand to ensure that such investigation is completed promptly after\nreceipt of any written reports made under this section;\n e. require the school, when an investigation reveals any such verified\nharassment, bullying or discrimination, to take prompt actions\nreasonably calculated to end the harassment, bullying or discrimination,\neliminate any hostile environment, create a more positive school culture\nand climate, prevent recurrence of the behavior, and ensure the safety\nof the student or students against whom such harassment, bullying or\ndiscrimination was directed. Such actions shall be consistent with the\nguidelines created pursuant to subdivision four of this section;\n f. prohibit retaliation against any individual who, in good faith,\nreports, or assists in the investigation of, harassment, bullying or\ndiscrimination;\n g. include a school strategy to prevent harassment, bullying and\ndiscrimination;\n h. require the principal to make a regular report on data and trends\nrelated to harassment, bullying and discrimination to the\nsuperintendent;\n i. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or\nsuperintendent's designee, to notify promptly the appropriate local law\nenforcement agency when such principal, superintendent or the\nprincipal's or superintendent's designee, believes that any harassment,\nbullying or discrimination constitutes criminal conduct;\n j. include appropriate references to the provisions of the school\ndistrict's code of conduct adopted pursuant to section twenty-eight\nhundred one of this chapter that are relevant to harassment, bullying\nand discrimination;\n k. require each school, at least once during each school year, to\nprovide all school employees, students and parents with a written or\nelectronic copy of the school district's policies created pursuant to\nthis section, or a plain-language summary thereof, including\nnotification of the process by which students, parents and school\nemployees may report harassment, bullying and discrimination. This\nsubdivision shall not be construed to require additional distribution of\nsuch policies and guidelines if they are otherwise distributed to school\nemployees, students and parents;\n l. maintain current versions of the school district's policies created\npursuant to this section on the school district's internet website, if\none exists;\n 2. Guidelines to be used in school training programs to discourage the\ndevelopment of harassment, bullying and discrimination, and to make\nschool employees aware of the effects of harassment, bullying,\ncyberbullying and discrimination on students and that are designed:\n a. to raise the awareness and sensitivity of school employees to\npotential harassment, bullying and discrimination, and\n b. to enable employees to prevent and respond to harassment, bullying\nand discrimination; and\n 3. Guidelines relating to the development of nondiscriminatory\ninstructional and counseling methods, and requiring that at least one\nstaff member at every school be thoroughly trained to handle human\nrelations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic\ngroup, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation,\ngender, and sex; and\n 4. Guidelines relating to the development of measured, balanced and\nage-appropriate responses to instances of harassment, bullying or\ndiscrimination by students, with remedies and procedures following a\nprogressive model that make appropriate use of intervention, discipline\nand education, vary in method according to the nature of the behavior,\nthe developmental age of the student and the student's history of\nproblem behaviors, and are consistent with the district's code of\nconduct; and\n 5. Training required by this section shall address the social patterns\nof harassment, bullying and discrimination, as defined in section eleven\nof this article, including but not limited to those acts based on a\nperson's actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin,\nethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual\norientation, gender or sex, the identification and mitigation of\nharassment, bullying and discrimination, and strategies for effectively\naddressing problems of exclusion, bias and aggression in educational\nsettings.\n