ยง 13. Policies and guidelines. The board of education and the trustees
or sole trustee of every school district shall create policies,
procedures and guidelines that shall include, but not be limited to:
1. Policies and procedures intended to create a school environment
that is free from harassment, bullying and discrimination, that include
but are not limited to provisions which:
a. identify the principal, superintendent or the principal's or
superintendent's designee as the school employee charged with receiving
reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination;
b. enable students and parents to make an oral or written report of
harassment, bullying or discrimination to teachers, administrators and
other school personnel that the school district deems appropriate;
c. require school employees who witness harassment, bullying or
discrimination, or receive an oral or written report of harassment,
bullying or discrimination, to promptly orally notify the principal,
superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee not later
than one school day after such school employee witnesses or receives a
report of harassment, bullying or discrimination, and to file a written
report with the principal, superintendent or the principal or
superintendent's designee not later than two school days after making
such oral report;
d. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or
superintendent's designee to lead or supervise the thorough
investigation of all reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination,
and to ensure that such investigation is completed promptly after
receipt of any written reports made under this section;
e. require the school, when an investigation reveals any such verified
harassment, bullying or discrimination, to take prompt actions
reasonably calculated to end the harassment, bullying or discrimination,
eliminate any hostile environment, create a more positive school culture
and climate, prevent recurrence of the behavior, and ensure the safety
of the student or students against whom such harassment, bullying or
discrimination was directed. Such actions shall be consistent with the
guidelines created pursuant to subdivision four of this section;
f. prohibit retaliation against any individual who, in good faith,
reports, or assists in the investigation of, harassment, bullying or
discrimination;
g. include a school strategy to prevent harassment, bullying and
discrimination;
h. require the principal to make a regular report on data and trends
related to harassment, bullying and discrimination to the
superintendent;
i. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or
superintendent's designee, to notify promptly the appropriate local law
enforcement agency when such principal, superintendent or the
principal's or superintendent's designee, believes that any harassment,
bullying or discrimination constitutes criminal conduct;
j. include appropriate references to the provisions of the school
district's code of conduct adopted pursuant to section twenty-eight
hundred one of this chapter that are relevant to harassment, bullying
and discrimination;
k. require each school, at least once during each school year, to
provide all school employees, students and parents with a written or
electronic copy of the school district's policies created pursuant to
this section, or a plain-language summary thereof, including
notification of the process by which students, parents and school
employees may report harassment, bullying and discrimination. This
subdivision shall not be construed to require additional distribution of
such policies and guidelines if they are otherwise distributed to school
employees, students and parents;
l. maintain current versions of the school district's policies created
pursuant to this section on the school district's internet website, if
one exists;
2. Guidelines to be used in school training programs to discourage the
development of harassment, bullying and discrimination, and to make
school employees aware of the effects of harassment, bullying,
cyberbullying and discrimination on students and that are designed:
a. to raise the awareness and sensitivity of school employees to
potential harassment, bullying and discrimination, and
b. to enable employees to prevent and respond to harassment, bullying
and discrimination; and
3. Guidelines relating to the development of nondiscriminatory
instructional and counseling methods, and requiring that at least one
staff member at every school be thoroughly trained to handle human
relations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic
group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation,
gender, and sex; and
4. Guidelines relating to the development of measured, balanced and
age-appropriate responses to instances of harassment, bullying or
discrimination by students, with remedies and procedures following a
progressive model that make appropriate use of intervention, discipline
and education, vary in method according to the nature of the behavior,
the developmental age of the student and the student's history of
problem behaviors, and are consistent with the district's code of
conduct; and
5. Training required by this section shall address the social patterns
of harassment, bullying and discrimination, as defined in section eleven
of this article, including but not limited to those acts based on a
person's actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin,
ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual
orientation, gender or sex, the identification and mitigation of
harassment, bullying and discrimination, and strategies for effectively
addressing problems of exclusion, bias and aggression in educational
settings.