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Regulation |
File Code: 5131.1 |
REPORTING PROCEDURE - HAZING AND/OR HARASSMENT,
INTIMIDATION OR BULLYING
The Board
of Education recognizes the need for a procedure to be in place for persons to
report and investigate allegations of hazing and/or harassment, intimidation,
or bullying behavior. For the purposes
of this Regulation, “behavior” shall mean acts, or planned acts, of hazing as
defined in Policy 5131 and/or acts of harassment, intimidation or bullying as
defined in Policy 5131. Unless otherwise
noted, “Building Principal” means the Principal and/or designee, of the school
building.
The
following complaint procedures shall be used for an allegation(s) of hazing
and/or harassment, intimidation or bullying behavior:
1. Reporting Hazing and/or Harassment,
Intimidation, or Bullying Behavior
a. Any person with any information
regarding actual and/or planned hazing and/or information regarding acts of
harassment, intimidation, or bullying of a pupil by any school employee or
other pupils must report the information to the Building Principal.
(1) If the Building Principal deems it
appropriate, he/she may immediately notify the parents/legal guardians of the
alleged pupil(s) who may be, or was, the victim of this behavior and the
accused pupil(s) who may or did this behavior.
(2) The Building Principal will not disclose the name(s) of the
person(s) accused or alleged victim(s) to the other party prior to completing a
preliminary investigation.
(3) The Building Principal will notify the
district’s Affirmative Action Officer of the report prior to conducting a
preliminary investigation.
Nothing in Policy 5131 or in this
Regulation prohibits the school district’s Affirmative Action Officer from
complying with the requirements of the district’s Affirmative Action Program as
outlined in Policies 2224, 4111.1 and 4211.1 and N.J.A.C.
6:4-1.1 et seq. In the event the Affirmative Action Officer
believes an affirmative action plan violation may be present, the Affirmative
Action Officer may conduct an investigation.
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Reporting
procedure – Hazing and/or Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (continued)
b. The school district can learn of this
behavior through other means such as from a witness to an incident, an
anonymous letter or telephone call, web-based reporting systems, and/or locked
boxes throughout the school where a report can be submitted without fear of
being observed.
c. Nothing in Policy 5131 and this
Regulation shall preclude the Building Principal and/or designee, from maintaining
the health, safety and welfare of staff and/or pupils.
d. In the event the Building Principal
determines, after a preliminary investigation, that hazing and/or harassment,
intimidation, or bullying behavior may have been present, the Building
Principal shall notify the parent(s) or legal
guardian(s) of all involved pupils and any other involved individuals of the
process to be followed in investigating a report or complaint.
2. Building Principal’s In-depth
Investigation
a. The Building Principal will begin an
immediate in-depth investigation in the event he/she believes behavior may have
been present after a preliminary investigation. The Building Principal, at
his/her discretion, may request the Affirmative Action Officer assist in the
investigation. The Building Principal
will promptly investigate all alleged complaints, whether or not a formal
complaint is filed, and steps will be taken to resolve the situation, if
needed. This investigation will be
prompt, thorough, and impartial. The
investigation will be completed by the Building Principal no more than ten working
days after receiving notice.
b. When a pupil or the parent/legal
guardian of a pupil provides information or complains about hazing and/or
harassing, intimidating, or bullying behavior of a pupil, the Building
Principal will initially discuss what actions the pupil or parent(s) or legal guardian(s) is seeking in response
to the behavior.
c. The Building Principal’s investigation
may include, but is not limited to, interviews with all persons with potential
knowledge of the alleged behavior, interviews with any pupils who may have been
hazed and/or harassed, intimidated, or bullied by any school employee or other
pupils and any other reasonable methods to determine if this behavior existed.
d. The Building Principal will request, if
relevant to an investigation, the parent(s) or
legal guardian(s) of any pupil involved in the investigation to assist
in the investigation to determine if the behavior exist(ed).
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Reporting
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e. The Building Principal will provide a
copy of the Board Policies and Regulation on Hazing and Harassment,
Intimidation, and Bullying to all persons who are interviewed with potential
knowledge and to any other person the Building Principal feels would be served
by a copy of such documents.
f. The Building Principal will explain
the avenues for formal and informal action, including a description of the
complaint procedure that is available for hazing and/or harassment,
intimidation, or bullying complaints and an explanation on how the procedure
works.
g. Any person interviewed by the Building
Principal may be provided an opportunity to present witnesses and other
evidence.
h. The Building Principal and/or
Superintendent may contact law enforcement agencies if there is potential
criminal conduct by any party.
i. The school district
administration may take interim measures during a Building Principal’s
investigation of a complaint in order to alleviate any conditions
that prohibits the pupil from assisting in the investigation.
If there is a
dispute about whether behavior occurred the following
types of information may be helpful in resolving the dispute:
(1) Statements made by any witnesses to the
alleged incident.
(2) Evidence about the relative credibility
of the alleged accused or alleged victim.
(3) Evidence that the alleged accused has
been found to have hazed and/or harassed, intimidated or bullied others may
support the credibility of the pupil claiming the behavior.
(4) Evidence of the alleged victim’s
reaction or behavior after the alleged behavior.
(5) Evidence about whether the pupil
claiming behavior against them filed a complaint or took other action to
protest the conduct soon after the alleged incident occurred.
j. The scope of a reasonable response
also may depend upon whether a pupil or parent/legal guardian reporting the
behavior asks that the pupil’s name not be disclosed to the accused or that
nothing be done about the behavior. The
Building Principal:
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procedure – Hazing and/or Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (continued)
(1) Will provide an overview of the
Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying Policy and the Hazing Policy to the pupil,
parent and/or legal guardian. In the
event the pupil, parent(s) or legal
guardian(s), request the pupil’s name remain confidential, the Building
Principal will inform the pupil, parent and/or legal guardian that the request
may limit the school district’s ability to respond.
(2) Will evaluate the confidentiality request
in the context of its responsibility to provide a safe environment for all
pupils. The factors to be considered
shall be the seriousness of the alleged behavior, the age of the pupils
involved, whether there have been any other complaints or reports. And the rights of the accused individual to
receive information about the accuser and the allegations if a formal
proceeding with sanctions may result.
(3) May use other means available to address
the behavior. Steps
that may be taken to limit the effects of the alleged behavior and prevent its
reoccurrence without initiating a formal complaint and revealing the identity
of the complainant. These steps may require training at the site where
the problem occurred, taking a pupil survey concerning any problems that may
exist, or other systematic measures where the alleged behavior occurred.
(4) By conducting a limited investigation
without revealing the name of the victim, the Building Principal may be able to
learn about or confirm a pattern of behavior based on claims of different
pupils that were hazed and/or harassed, intimidated, or bullied by the same
individual. The Building Principal may
place an individual on notice of allegation of behavior and counsel appropriately
without revealing, even indirectly, the identity of the pupil who notified the
school district.
3. Investigation Results
a. Upon the conclusion of the
investigation, but not later than ten working days after reported, the Building
Principal will prepare a summary of findings to the parties. At the least this shall include the person(s)
providing notice to the school district and the pupil(s) who were alleged to be
the victim of hazing and/or harassing, intimidating, or bullying behavior.
b. The Building Principal shall make a
determination whether hazing and/or harassing, intimidating, or bullying
behavior was present.
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c. If the Building Principal concludes the
behavior was not, or is not present, the investigation is concluded.
d. If the Building Principal determines
the behavior has occurred, the school district administrators and staff shall
take reasonable, age-appropriate, and effective corrective action, including
steps tailored to the specific situation. Appropriate steps will be taken to
end the hazing and/or harassment, intimidation, or bullying such as counseling,
warning, and/or disciplinary action, as specified in pupil and/or staff discipline
policies and regulations. The steps will
be based on the severity of the behavior or any record of prior incidents or
both. A series of escalating
consequences may be necessary if the initial steps are ineffective in stopping
the harassment.
e. The school district administrators may
need to deliver special training or other interventions to repair the
educational environment. Other measures may include directing the person(s) to
apologize to the victim(s) dissemination of information, distribution of new
policy statements or other steps to communicate the message that the Board does
not tolerate harassment, intimidating, bullying and/or hazing and will be
responsive to any pupil that reports such conduct.
f. In some situations, the school district
administrators may need to provide other services to the victim(s) if necessary
to address the effects of the behavior on that pupil. Depending on the type of behavior found, these additional services may include an independent
re-assessment of the pupil’s work, re-taking a course with a different
instructor, tutoring and/or other measures that are appropriate to the
situation.
g.
The school district administrators will take steps
to avoid any further hazing and/or harassment, intimidation, or bullying behavior
and to prevent any retaliation against the pupil who
made the complaint, was the subject of the behavior, or against those who
provided the information or were witnesses.
The Building Principal will inform the victim pupil and his/her parent
how to report any subsequent problems and make follow-up inquiries to see if
there has been any new incidents or retaliation.
h. All grievances and accompanied
investigation notes will be maintained in a confidential file by the Building
Principal.
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procedure – Hazing and/or Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (continued)
4. Building Principal’s Investigation
Appeal Process
a. Any person found by the Building
Principal’s investigation to be guilty of hazing and/or harassment,
intimidation, or bullying behavior, or any pupil who believes they were hazed
and/or harassed, intimidated, or bullied, but not supported by the Building
Principal’s investigation, may appeal to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will review the Building
Principal’s report and any other information he/she deems appropriate, to make
a determination. The Superintendent will
make his/her determination within ten working days of receiving the appeal.
b. Any person who is not satisfied with
the Superintendent’s determination may appeal to the Board. The Board will review the Building
Principal’s report and the Superintendent’s determination, along with any other
information the Board deems appropriate to make a Board determination. The Board will make its determination within
forty-five calendar days of receiving an appeal from the Superintendent’s
determination.
Office Of Civil Rights (OCR) Case Resolution
Parents
or pupils not satisfied with the resolution by the school district officials or
the Board may request the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States
Department of Education to investigate the allegations.
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