IX.
Documentation and Maintenance of Log
A. Each school shall maintain written reports of bullying, along with supporting
documentation received and/or created as a result of bullying investigations, consistent
with the Board’s obligations under state and federal law. Any educational record
containing personally identifiable student information pertaining to an individual student
shall be maintained in a confidential manner, and shall not be disclosed to third parties
without written prior written consent of a parent, guardian or eligible student, except as
permitted under Board policy and state and federal law.
B. The Principal of each school shall maintain a list of the number of verified acts of
bullying in the school and this list shall be available for public inspection upon request.
Consistent with district obligations under state and federal law regarding student privacy,
the log shall not contain any personally identifiable student information, or any
information that alone or in combination would allow a reasonable person in the school
community to identify the students involved. Accordingly, the log should be limited to
basic information such as the number of verified acts, name of school and/or grade level
and relevant date. Given that any determination of bullying involves repeated acts, each
investigation that results in a verified act of bullying for that school year shall be tallied
as one verified act of bullying unless the specific actions that are the subject of each
report involve separate and distinct acts of bullying. The list shall be limited to the
number of verified acts of bullying in each school and shall not set out the particulars of
each verified act, including, but not limited to any personally identifiable student
information, which is confidential information by law.
C. The Principal of each school shall report the number of verified acts of bullying in the
school annually to the Department of Education in such manner as prescribed by the
Commissioner of Education.
X. Other Prevention and Intervention Strategies
A. Bullying behavior and teen dating violence can take many forms and can vary
dramatically in the nature of the offense and the impact the behavior may have on the
victim and other students. Accordingly, there is no one prescribed response to verified
acts of bullying or to teen dating violence. While conduct that rises to the level of
“bullying” or “teen dating violence,” as defined above, will generally warrant traditional
disciplinary action against the perpetrator of such bullying or teen dating violence,
whether and to what extent to impose disciplinary action (e.g., detention, in-school
suspension, suspension or expulsion) is a matter for the professional discretion of the
building principal (or responsible program administrator or his/her designee). No
disciplinary action may be taken solely on the basis of an anonymous complaint of
bullying. As discussed below, schools may also consider appropriate alternative to
traditional disciplinary sanctions, including age-appropriate consequences and other
restorative or remedial interventions.
B. A specific written intervention plan shall be developed to address repeated incidents of
bullying against a single individual or recurrently perpetrated bullying incidents by the
same individual. This plan may include safety provisions, as described above, for
students against whom acts of bullying have been verified and may include other
interventions such as counseling, discipline, and other appropriate remedial or restorative
actions as determined by the responsible administrator.
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