News
TheDay.com: A Bullying Prevention Program That Works
In Connecticut, 25 percent of high school students overall and 35 percent of ninth-graders reported being bullied or harassed on school property during the previous year. The problem is, there have not been clear and consistent rules, consequences, and enforcement regarding bullying behavior in our schools. It looks like that's about to change. ...
Cyd Slotoroff's Website
Cyd Slotoroff is one of the first people in the state to become an OBPP trainer.
Laws
Bullying/Harassment
Public Act 08-160 (2008) requires each local and regional board of education to develop a policy addressing the existence of bullying in schools. The policy shall: design anonymous procedures for students to report acts of bullying to teachers and school administrators; construct procedures for parents or guardians to file written reports of suspected bullying; require school personnel to notify school administrators when acts of bullying or written reports of bullying are received; require school administrators to investigate the written reports; incorporate intervention and prevention strategies for school staff to deal with bullying; include language about bullying in student codes of conduct; require the notification of parents or guardians of the bullies and the victims of bullies to be notified; require schools to keep count of incidents of bullying for public reporting purposes; direct the development of case-by-case interventions for addressing repeated incidents of bullying against a single individual or by the same individual; and identify the appropriate school personnel responsible for taking a bullying report and investigating the complaint.
Public Act 08-160 (2008) outlines "intervention and prevention" strategies that schools may include some of the following: (1) implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports process or another evidence-based model approach for safe school climate for the prevention of bullying identified by the Department of Education; (2) a school survey to determine the prevalence of bullying, (3) a school survey to determine the prevalence of bullying, (3) adequate adult supervision of outdoor areas, hallways, the lunchroom and other specific areas where bullying is likely to occur, and (4) the inclusion of grade-appropriate bullying prevention curricula in kindergarten through high school. Additional strategies are listed in the statute.
Chapter 170 Section 10-222d (2006) defines "bullying" as any overt act by a student or a group of students directed against another student with the intent to ridicule, harass, humiliate or intimidate the other student while on school grounds, [or] at a school-sponsored activity or on a school bus, which acts are repeated against the same student over time."
Cyber Bullying
No state policy.
Hazing
No state policy addressing elementary or secondary schools.
Source: National Association of State Boards of Education
Last Updated: 4/6/2009
