Reporting Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying (DASA)
The building principal is the school employee charged with receiving all reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination; however, students and parents may make an oral or written complaint of harassment, bullying or discrimination to any teacher, administrator or school employee.
The District will act to promptly investigate all complaints, verbal or written, formal or informal, of allegations of discrimination, harassment and bullying; and will promptly take appropriate action to protect individuals from further discrimination, harassment and bullying.
It is essential that any student who believes he/she has been subjected to discrimination, harassment, bullying or retaliatory behavior, as well as any individual who is aware of and/or who has knowledge of, or witnesses any possible occurrence, immediately report same to any staff member or administrator. The staff member/administrator to whom the report is made (or the staff member/administrator who witnesses or suspects bullying/cyberbullying behavior) shall document and take appropriate action to address the immediacy of the situation and shall promptly report in accordance with the following paragraphs.
Upon receipt of a complaint (even an anonymous complaint), or if a school employee otherwise learns of any occurrence of possible conduct prohibited by this policy, the school employee shall promptly and orally notify the school principal no later than one school day after such school employee witnesses or receives the complaint or learns of such conduct. Such a school employee shall also file a written report with the school principal no later than two school days after making such oral report.
After receipt of a complaint, the building principal shall lead or supervise a thorough investigation of the alleged harassing, bullying and/or retaliatory conduct. The Principal or the Principal’s designee will conduct such investigation promptly and investigated in accordance with the terms of district policy. All complaints shall be treated as confidential and private to the extent possible within legal constraints.
Based upon the results of this investigation, if the District determines that a school official, employee, volunteer, vendor, visitor and/or student has violated the District’s Code of Conduct or a material incident of harassment, bullying and/or discrimination has occurred, immediate corrective action will be taken as warranted, it will take prompt action reasonably calculated to end the violation, eliminate any hostile environment, create a more positive school culture and climate, prevent recurrence of the behavior, and provide for the safety of the student or students against whom such violation was directed.
The Principal, Superintendent, or their designee shall notify promptly the appropriate local law enforcement agency when it is believed that any harassment, bullying or discrimination constitutes criminal conduct. The Principal or the Principal’s designee shall provide a regular report, at least once during each school year, on data and trends relating to harassment, bullying and/or discrimination to the Superintendent of Schools.
Retaliation against any individual who, in good faith, reports or assists in the investigation of harassment, bullying, and/or discrimination shall be prohibited.
As a general rule, responses to acts of harassment, bullying, and/or discrimination against students by students shall incorporate a progressive model of student discipline that includes measured, balanced and age-appropriate remedies and procedures that make appropriate use of prevention, education, intervention and discipline, and considers among other things, the nature and severity of the offending student’s behavior(s), the developmental age of the student, the previous disciplinary record of the student and other extenuating circumstances, and the impact the student’s behaviors had on the individual(s) who was physically injured and/or emotionally harmed. Responses shall be reasonably calculated to end the harassment, bullying, and/or discrimination, prevent recurrence, and eliminate the hostile environment.
In the event that the Principal is the alleged offender, the report will be directed to the Superintendent.
All complaints of alleged harassing, bullying and/or retaliatory conduct shall be:
- promptly investigated in accordance with the terms of District policy;
- forwarded to the program’s Dignity For All Students Act Coordinator for monitoring; and
- treated as confidential and private to the extent possible within legal constraints.
Prevention is the cornerstone of the District’s effort to address bullying and harassment. In order to implement this anti-bullying prevention program, the Board will designate, at its annual organizational meeting, individuals at each school to act as the Dignity For All Students Act Coordinator (“DAC”). These individuals shall 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.
The DASA Coordinators will be responsible for assisting in coordinating and enforcing the requirements of the Dignity for All Students Act and its related policies and regulations at each school building, including but not limited to:
- Professional development for staff members;
- The complaint process; and
- Implementation of the Dignity Act’s civility curriculum components.
District designated DASA Coordinators are the Building Principals in each of the three buildings.