FIRST TAKE Dr. Nan Stein abhors the word “bullying.” To her, it’s merely a description misused by schools and
the media to describe outright criminal conduct by students on other students. Instead, she says, bullying more often than not refers to harassment. Te Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education has classified harassment
Bullying or
Harassment? The Answer is in the Federal Law
By Ryan Gray
as violating federal law, whether that behavior targets a person’s race, gender, disability or sexual preference. But the provision is lost on far too many school districts. In Stein’s opinion as one of the nation’s foremost experts on harassment at the Wellesley Centers for Women and the former civil rights specialist for the Massachusetts Department of Education, schools prefer the term “bullying,” or what she refers to as “the ‘B’ word,” because they think that will keep them out of federal court. Stein testified before the Massachusetts Attorney General in February in opposition of the state’s
new anti-bullying law because federal law trumps it. Instead, she said every school principal in the state should receive a copy of OCR’s guidance issued last October on bullying and harassment. It clarified the relationship between bullying and discrimination and explained how student miscon- duct that falls under a state’s or school district’s anti-bullying policy also can trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal anti-discrimination statutes. OCR reminded schools that a failure to recognize student harassment could lead to “inadequate or inappropriate” responses that fail to remedy violations of students’ civil rights. Tree main federal laws are at play here. Te first is Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. Ten there is Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Last but not least are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Tey both prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. Schools must take “immediate and appropriate action” in investigating all cases of harassment and must take “prompt and effec- tive steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment, eliminate any hostile environment, and prevent its recurrence.” Tis response is triggered when schools know about specific instances of harassment or if they
should “reasonably” know. At either point it is the school’s responsibility to take action, even if the misconduct also is covered by a local or state anti-bullying policy or law and regardless of whether the student makes a complaint or not. It’s an intriguing conversation in light of new training that is being developed for school bus drivers
by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and NAPT that is ex- pected to be unveiled this summer [see article on page 20]. How that training will take shape remains to be seen. But it leads to the question of how bus drivers could assume this added responsibility. “I think it would be terrific to train them,” said Stein. “But the thing that always concerns me is,
if they’re driving the bus and they need to have their full attention on the traffic, the trains, the pedestrians, how are they going to stop an altercation that’s going on in the back of the bus?” She mentioned seat belts as possible solutions to on-board behavior problems. But, she added, how
do school districts ensure students are indeed buckling up? And, especially in this economy, bus aides or monitors are simply a pipe dream for many school districts for regular route transportation and, increasingly, for special education routes. Another option is to recruit parent volunteers and train them to assist drivers with student be-
havior management. She pointed to the effectiveness of these adult chaperones joining children on “walking school buses” tied to the federal Safe Routes to School program to promote increased physi- cal fitness and reduced traffic congestion. “Bus drivers need to stay awake and keep their eyes on the road. Safety first,” she added. “It’s so
duplicitous in a way to blame this on bus drivers for what’s going on because they have to drive. I don’t understand how they’re going to have compliance on the bus without having aides on the bus.” But just as important is complete buy-in from school administrators, especially principals, to
enforce bus referrals written by drivers or monitors during regular school runs as well as during activity trips. “[Te bus is] still school. Tat might make the kids think a bit more,” Stein concluded. “Tese are all school-sponsored activities where the rule of law applies.” ■
12 School Transportation News Magazine May 2011
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