THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY WASHINGTON, ARGALL, COSTA, FERLO, BREWSTER, HUGHES, KITCHEN, SOLOBAY, STACK, WILLIAMS, WOZNIAK, YUDICHAK AND FARNESE, APRIL 8, 2011

REFERRED TO EDUCATION, APRIL 8, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An

act relating to the public school system, including certain

provisions applicable as well to private and parochial

schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the

laws relating thereto," providing for antibullying bill of

rights.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known

as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding a

section to read:

Section 1303.2-A.  Antibullying Bill of Rights.--(a)  The

policy adopted by each school entity pursuant to section

1303.1-A shall include provisions for appropriate responses to

harassment, intimidation or bullying that occurs off school

grounds in cases in which a school employe is made aware of such

actions and such actions create a hostile environment at school

for the student, infringe on the rights of the student at school

or disrupt the education process or orderly operation of a

school. The responses to harassment, intimidation or bullying

that occur off school grounds shall be consistent with the State

Board of Education's code of student conduct and other

provisions of the board's policy on harassment, intimidation or

bullying.

(b)  (1)  The principal in each school in a school entity

shall appoint a school antibullying specialist. When a school

guidance counselor, school psychologist or another individual

similarly trained is currently employed in the school, the

principal shall appoint that individual to be the school

antibullying specialist. If no individual meeting this criteria

is currently employed in the school, the principal shall appoint

a school antibullying specialist from currently employed school

personnel. The school antibullying specialist shall:

(i)  Chair the school safety team as provided in subsection

(c).

(ii)  Lead the investigation of incidents of harassment,

intimidation and bullying in the school.

(iii)  Act as the primary school official responsible for

preventing, identifying and addressing incidents of harassment,

intimidation and bullying in the school.

(2)  The chief school administrator shall appoint a school

entity antibullying coordinator. The chief school administrator

shall make every effort to appoint an employe of the school

entity to this position. The school entity antibullying

coordinator shall:

(i)  Be responsible for coordinating and strengthening the

school entity's policies to prevent, identify and address

harassment, intimidation and bullying of students.

(ii)  Collaborate with school antibullying specialists in the

school entity, the State Board of Education and the chief school

administrator to prevent, identify and respond to harassment,

intimidation and bullying of students in the school entity.

(iii)  Provide data, in collaboration with the chief school

administrator, to the Department of Education regarding

harassment, intimidation and bullying of students.

(iv)  Execute such other duties related to school harassment,

intimidation and bullying as requested by the chief school

administrator.

(3)  The school entity's antibullying coordinator shall meet

at least twice a school year, once in the first semester and

once in the second semester, with the school antibullying

specialists in the school entity to discuss and strengthen

procedures and policies to prevent, identify and address

harassment, intimidation and bullying in the school entity.

(c)  (1)  Each school entity shall form a school safety team

in each school entity to develop, foster and maintain a positive

school climate by focusing on the ongoing, systemic process and

practices in the school and to address school climate issues

such as harassment, intimidation or bullying. A school safety

team shall meet at least two times per school year, once in the

first semester and once in the second semester.

(2)  A school safety team shall consist of the principal or

his designee who, if possible, shall be a senior administrator

in the school and the following appointees of the principal: a

teacher in the school; a school antibullying specialist; a

parent of a student in the school; and other members to be

determined by the principal. The school antibullying specialist

shall serve as the chair of the school safety team.

(3)  The school safety team shall:

(i)  Receive any complaints of harassment, intimidation or

bullying of students that have been reported to the principal.

(ii)  Receive copies of any report prepared after an

investigation of an incident of harassment, intimidation or

bullying.

(iii)  Identify and address patterns of harassment,

intimidation or bullying of students in the school.

(iv)  Review and strengthen school climate and the policies

of the school in order to prevent and address harassment,

intimidation or bullying of students.

(v)  Educate the community, including students, teachers,

administrative staff and parents to prevent and address

harassment, intimidation or bullying of students.

(vi)  Participate in training which the principal or the

school entity antibullying coordinator may request.

(vii)  Collaborate with the school entity's antibullying

coordinator in the collection of the entire school entity's data

and in the development of school entity policies to prevent and

address harassment, intimidation or bullying of students.

(viii)  Execute such other duties related to harassment,

intimidation and bullying as requested by the principal or

school entity antibullying coordinator.

(4)  The members of a school safety team shall be provided

professional development opportunities that address effective

practices of successful school climate programs or approaches.

(d)  (1)  Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, all

candidates for teaching certification shall satisfactorily

complete a program on harassment, intimidation and bullying

prevention.

(2)  The State Board of Education shall establish the

appropriate requirements of the program on harassment,

intimidation and bullying prevention.

(3)  The Department of Education shall, as part of the

professional development requirement established by the State

Board of Education for public school teachers, require each

public school teacher to complete at least two hours of

instruction on harassment, intimidation or bullying prevention

in each professional development period.

(e)  Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, all candidates

for administrative certification shall satisfactorily complete a

program on harassment, intimidation and bullying prevention.

(f)  (1)  The Department of Education, in consultation with

the office, shall develop a guidance document for use by parents

or guardians, students and school entities to assist in

resolving complaints concerning student harassment, intimidation

or bullying behaviors by school entities. The document shall

include: 

(i)  A school entity's obligations under section 1301.1-A.

(ii)  Best practices for the prevention, intervention and

remediation of harassment, intimidation or bullying in schools,

including methods to identify and assist student populations at

high risk for harassment, intimidation or bullying.

(iii)  A clear explanation of the procedures for petitioning

the Secretary of Education to hear and decide disputes

concerning section 1303.1-A.

(iv)  A clear explanation of the police department's

jurisdiction and services in regard to specific types of

harassment, intimidation or bullying.

(v)  A clear explanation of the process for appealing final

agency determinations to the Commonwealth Court.

(2)  The guidance document shall be available on the

Department of Education's Internet website and on every school

entity's Internet website at an easily accessible location.

(g)  (1)  The Secretary of Education shall establish a formal

protocol pursuant to which the office of the chief school

administrator shall investigate a complaint that documents an

allegation of a violation of section 1303.1-A by a school entity

located within the county, when the complaint has not been

adequately addressed on the local level. The office of the chief

school administrator shall report its findings and, if

appropriate, issue an order for the school entity to develop and

implement corrective actions that are specific to the facts of

the case.

(2)  The Secretary of Education shall ensure that the

personnel of the office of the chief school administrator who

are responsible for conducting the investigations receive

training and technical support on the use of the complaint

investigation protocol.

(h)  (1)  The Secretary of Education, in consultation with

recognized experts in school bullying from a cross-section of

academia, child advocacy organizations, nonprofit organizations,

professional associations and government agencies, shall

establish in-service workshops and training programs to train

selected public school employes to act as school entity

antibullying coordinators and school antibullying specialists in

accordance with the provisions of this section. The secretary

shall seek to make the workshops and training programs available

and administered online through the department's Internet

website or other existing online resources. The secretary shall

evaluate the effectiveness of the consulting group on an annual

basis. The in-service training programs may utilize the offices

of the executive county superintendent of schools or such other

institutions, agencies or persons as the secretary deems

appropriate. Each school entity shall provide time for the in-

service training during the usual school schedule in order to

ensure that appropriate personnel are prepared to act in the

school entity as antibullying coordinators and school

antibullying specialists.

(2)  Upon completion of the initial in-service training

program, the Secretary of Education shall ensure that programs

and workshops that reflect the most current information on

harassment, intimidation and bullying in schools are prepared

and made available to school entity antibullying coordinators

and school antibullying specialists at regular intervals.

(i)  The Secretary of Education shall develop, in

consultation with the Office of Attorney General, and make

available on the Department of Education's Internet website, an

online tutorial on harassment, intimidation and bullying. The

online tutorial shall, at a minimum, include best practices in

the prevention of harassment, intimidation and bullying,

applicable laws and such other information that the secretary

determines to be appropriate. The online tutorial shall be

accompanied by a test to assess a person's understanding of the

information provided in the tutorial.

(j)  There is created a special fund in the Department of

Education which shall be designated the Bullying Prevention

Fund. The fund shall be maintained in a separate account and

administered by the Secretary of Education to carry out the

provisions of this act. The fund shall consist of:

(1)  Any monies appropriated by the Commonwealth for the

purposes of the fund.

(2)  Any monies donated for the purposes of the fund.

(3)  All interest and investment earnings received on monies

in the fund.

The fund shall be used to offer grants to school entities to

provide training on harassment, intimidation and bullying

prevention and on the effective creation of positive school

climates.

(k)  Throughout the school year the school entity shall

provide ongoing age-appropriate instruction on preventing

harassment, intimidation and bullying in accordance with the

core curriculum content standards.

(l)  Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as

affecting the provisions of any collective bargaining agreement

or individual contract of employment.

(m)  (1)  A public institution of higher education shall

adopt a policy to be included in its student code of conduct

prohibiting harassment, intimidation or bullying. The policy

shall contain, at a minimum:

(i)  A statement prohibiting harassment, intimidation or

bullying.

(ii)  Disciplinary actions which may result if a student

commits an act of harassment, intimidation or bullying.

(iii)  A definition of harassment, intimidation or bullying

that, at a minimum, includes any gesture, any written, verbal or

physical act or any electronic communication that is reasonably

perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived

characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry,

national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and

expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability, or by

any other distinguishing characteristic, that takes place on the

property of the institution of higher education or at any

function sponsored by the institution of higher education and

that:

(A)  a reasonable person should know, under the

circumstances, will have the effect of physically or emotionally

harming a student or damaging the student's property, or placing

a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to

his person or damage to his property;

(B)  has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or

group of students in such a way as to cause disruption in, or

interference with, the orderly operation of the institution of

higher education;

(C)  creates a hostile environment for the student at the

institution of higher education; or

(D)  infringes on the rights of the student at the

institution of higher education.

(2)  The institution shall distribute the policy by e-mail to

each student within seven days of the start of each semester and

shall post the policy on its Internet website.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect August 1, 2012.