Harassment Report Released               

 

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Section 19 of Act 174 of 2008, a bill related to domestic violence, established a committee to study harassment and bullying in schools, to be convened and staffed by the Human Rights Commission. The committee studied current policies, laws and trainings related to harassment, including cyber bullying. VSBA Executive Director John Nelson served on the committee.  The final version of the report was released on January 15th.

 

Probably the key issue in the report deals with disciplining students for off-campus conduct, particularly “cyber-bullying.”  The report will recommend changes to the student discipline statutes that would clarify that schools can discipline students for off-campus conduct that “…is shown to have the purpose or effect of objectively and substantially undermining and detracting from or interfering with a student’s educational performance or access to school resources or creating an objectively intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.”  One member of the committee dissented from this recommendation on the grounds that it might clash with the free speech rights of students.  The issue is sure to be debated during the legislative session.

 

The report will also recommend increasing the in-service training requirements for school staff members to ensure that training on strategies to prevent incidents of bullying and harassment takes place “on a regular basis.”  In order to make increased training for school staff possible, the report recommends that a full-time “Training Director” be assigned to the Human Rights Commission and made responsible for “spearheading harassment and bullying prevention and response training initiatives.” 

 

The report also recommends that the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators make “a demonstration of knowledge and skills on the topics of bullying and harassment prevention and response (a part of) the requirements for teacher licensure,” and that Vermont pre-service teacher preparation programs also include bullying and harassment components in their curricula. 

 

The House Judiciary Committee reviewed the “Harassment, Bullying & Cyberbullying in Vermont Schools” report during the first week of the legislative session.  For information on developments related to the report’s recommendations as the legislative session continues, watch for new periodic Education Legislative Reports posted on the VSBA website at http://www.vtvsba.org/legis/legis.htm.