From the Capitol – Common Ground September 2011
In September, a new anti-bullying law went into effect in New Jersey. Considered to be the nation’s toughest law to fight bullying in schools, the measure strengthens New Jersey’s earlier anti-bullying law, which encouraged, but did not require school districts to set up anti-bullying programs.
“The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” requires training for public school employees on how to spot bullying; mandates that districts form “school safety teams” to review complaints; requires superintendents to report incidents of bullying to the Board of Education or face disciplinary action; and allows schools to suspend or expel students who bully, harass, or intimidate other students. The law applies to bullying that occurs in extracurricular school-related settings, including cyber bullying, school buses, and school-sponsored functions, as well as to bullying that occurs off school grounds but that carries over into school.
It is the first anti-bullying law in the U.S. to set statewide deadlines for incidents of bullying to be reported, investigated, and resolved. School personnel must report incidents of bullying to principals on the day they occur. An investigation must begin within one school day and a school must complete its investigation within 10 school days, after which there must be a resolution of the situation. The school must notify the parents of all students involved in an incident, including the parents of the bully and the bullied student, and offer counseling and intervention services.
Schools will be graded on how well they are addressing bullying, and must post the information on line, along with contact information for its anti-bullying specialist.
The law specifically protects students with disabilities, as well all students who may be bullied or harassed due to actual or perceived race, color, religion, disability, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.
In ten research studies conducted in the U.S., children with disabilities were found to be two to three times more likely than non-disabled peers to be bullied, and the bullying was more chronic in nature and often directly related to their disabilities. In a 2008 study, 97% of teachers reported that they had observed more than one incident of school-related disability harassment.
This spring, a federal district court in New York ruled that children with disabilities who are bullied may be denied a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), as required under IDEA. The decision is important because, until now, whether a student with disabilities was subjected to bullying was not considered in determining whether a placement was appropriate. This decision makes clear that districts cannot ignore bullying and the effect it may have on a student’s ability to benefit from special education. Districts must address whether it must modify a student’s placement or provide other special education services to ameliorate the effect of bullying.
.