Bill > S2392

Introduced Session

This bill amends and supplements the law on harassment, intimidation, and bullying in public schools. The bill includes a number of the recommendations of the New Jersey Commission on Bullying in Schools contained in its report issued December 15, 2009, in addition to a number of other provisions. The bill: · Amends the definition of "harassment, intimidation or bullying": to specify that the "harm" that a student may experience could be either physical or emotional; to add two additional criteria to the definition - the creation of a hostile environment at school and the infringement on the rights of the student at school; and to eliminate the requirement that the disruption or interference with the orderly operation of the school be "substantial"; · Adds a conviction of "bias intimidation" to the list of crimes for which a person may be disqualified for employment in a school; · Provides that training on harassment, intimidation, and bullying be part of the training required for public school teaching staff members in suicide prevention. The instruction is also required to include information on reducing the risk of suicide for students who are members of communities identified as having members at high risk of suicide; · Provides that by the 2011-2012 school year all candidates for school administrator or teacher certification will be required to complete a program on harassment, intimidation, or bullying prevention, and that training in this area will be a part of the professional development requirements for these individuals; · Includes training regarding harassment, intimidation and bullying in schools as a part of the training program provided to all school board members; · Provides that the training course for safe schools resource officers and public school employees assigned by a board of education to serve as a school liaison to law enforcement must include training in the protection of students from harassment, intimidation, and bullying; · Includes harassment, intimidation, and bullying in the types of conduct that under current statute may constitute good cause for suspension or expulsion; · Includes members of the school board in the list of individuals who may not engage in reprisals against victims or witnesses of acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying and also in the list of those who are required to report acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying to appropriate officials in the school district; · Requires school districts to establish bullying prevention programs or approaches. Under current law school districts are only "encouraged" to establish such programs; · Provides that a school districts policy on harassment, intimidation, and bullying must include appropriate responses to such actions that occur off school grounds; · Provides that the Department of Education, in consultation with the Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety, must develop a guidance document for use by parents, students, and school districts to assist in resolving complaints regarding harassment, intimidation, or bullying behaviors and concerning the implementation by school districts of statutory requirements in this area; · Provides that the Department of Education must establish a formal protocol to be used by the offices of the executive county superintendent of schools in investigating complaints that school districts are not adhering to the provisions of law governing harassment, intimidation, or bullying in the schools; · Provides that each school district must form a school safety team in each school in the district to foster and maintain a positive school climate within the schools; · Creates the "Bullying Prevention Fund" in the Department of Education to be used to fund grants to school districts to provide training on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention and on effective means to create a positive school climate; · Designates the week beginning with the first Monday in October of each year as a "Week of Respect" and requires districts to observe the week by providing age-appropriate instruction focusing on preventing harassment, intimidation or bullying; · Provides a detailed procedure that must be included in each districts policy concerning the investigation of incidents of harassment, intimidation, or bullying; · Provides that a school administrator who fails to initiate or conduct an investigation of an incident, or who should have known of an incident and fails to take action, is subject to discipline; · Provides that a school employee or contracted service provider must file a written report with the school principal within two days of observing or being made aware of an act of harassment, intimidation, or bullying; · Provides that the principal in each public school must appoint the currently employed school guidance counselor, school psychologist or another similarly trained individual as the school anti-bullying specialist. If there is no individual that meets these criteria employed in the school, the principal must appoint another currently employed individual in the school to the position of school anti-bullying specialist. The bill also sets forth the responsibilities of school anti-bullying specialists; · Provides that the superintendent of schools in each school district must appoint a district anti-bullying coordinator and sets forth the responsibilities of that individual; · Provides that the superintendent of schools must report to the board of education twice a year, rather than annually, at a public hearing all acts of violence, vandalism and harassment, intimidation, or bullying which occurred during the previous period. The report shall be used to grade schools and districts in their efforts to identify harassment, intimidation or bullying, pursuant to a program for which the commissioner will provide guidelines; and · Includes in the School Report Card data identifying the number and nature of all reports of harassment, intimidation or bullying. The New Jersey Commission on Bullying in Schools was established pursuant to P.L.2007, c.303. The commission was charged with the responsibility of studying the issue of school harassment, intimidation, and bullying and making recommendations on how to reduce these activities in our schools. The bill also includes a provision that requires all public institutions of higher education to include a policy on harassment, intimidation, or bullying as part of its student code of conduct.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Diane Allen (R)*,  Robert Andrews (D)*,  Barbara Buono (D)*,  Tom Kean (R)*,  Jeff Van Drew (R)*,  Loretta Weinberg (D)*,  Christopher Bateman (R),  Jim Beach (D),  Jennifer Beck (R),  Anthony Bucco (R),  Andrew Ciesla (R),  Richard Codey (D),  Christopher Connors (R),  Sandra Cunningham (D),  Nia Gill (D),  John Girgenti (D),  Robert Gordon (D),  Sean Kean (R),  Joseph Kyrillos (R),  Raymond Lesniak (D),  Kevin O'Toole (R),  Ronald Rice (D),  Teresa Ruiz (D),  Paul Sarlo (D),  Nick Scutari (D),  Bob Singer (R),  Bob Smith (D),  Brian Stack (D),  Stephen Sweeney (D),  Shirley Turner (D),  Jim Whelan (D), 

Substituted by A3466 (1R) (on 11/22/2010)