N.Y. Education Law § 13: Policies and guidelines

§ 13. Policies and guidelines. The board of education and the trustees

or sole trustee of every school district shall create policies,

procedures and guidelines that shall include, but not be limited to:

1. Policies and procedures intended to create a school environment

that is free from harassment, bullying and discrimination, that include

but are not limited to provisions which:

a. identify the principal, superintendent or the principal's or

superintendent's designee as the school employee charged with receiving

reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination;

b. enable students and parents to make an oral or written report of

harassment, bullying or discrimination to teachers, administrators and

other school personnel that the school district deems appropriate;

c. require school employees who witness harassment, bullying or

discrimination, or receive an oral or written report of harassment,

bullying or discrimination, to promptly orally notify the principal,

superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee not later

than one school day after such school employee witnesses or receives a

report of harassment, bullying or discrimination, and to file a written

report with the principal, superintendent or the principal or

superintendent's designee not later than two school days after making

such oral report;

d. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or

superintendent's designee to lead or supervise the thorough

investigation of all reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination,

and to ensure that such investigation is completed promptly after

receipt of any written reports made under this section;

e. require the school, when an investigation reveals any such verified

harassment, bullying or discrimination, to take prompt actions

reasonably calculated to end the harassment, bullying or discrimination,

eliminate any hostile environment, create a more positive school culture

and climate, prevent recurrence of the behavior, and ensure the safety

of the student or students against whom such harassment, bullying or

discrimination was directed. Such actions shall be consistent with the

guidelines created pursuant to subdivision four of this section;

f. prohibit retaliation against any individual who, in good faith,

reports, or assists in the investigation of, harassment, bullying or

discrimination;

g. include a school strategy to prevent harassment, bullying and

discrimination;

h. require the principal to make a regular report on data and trends

related to harassment, bullying and discrimination to the

superintendent;

i. require the principal, superintendent or the principal's or

superintendent's designee, to notify promptly the appropriate local law

enforcement agency when such principal, superintendent or the

principal's or superintendent's designee, believes that any harassment,

bullying or discrimination constitutes criminal conduct;

j. include appropriate references to the provisions of the school

district's code of conduct adopted pursuant to section twenty-eight

hundred one of this chapter that are relevant to harassment, bullying

and discrimination;

k. require each school, at least once during each school year, to

provide all school employees, students and parents with a written or

electronic copy of the school district's policies created pursuant to

this section, or a plain-language summary thereof, including

notification of the process by which students, parents and school

employees may report harassment, bullying and discrimination. This

subdivision shall not be construed to require additional distribution of

such policies and guidelines if they are otherwise distributed to school

employees, students and parents;

l. maintain current versions of the school district's policies created

pursuant to this section on the school district's internet website, if

one exists;

2. Guidelines to be used in school training programs to discourage the

development of harassment, bullying and discrimination, and to make

school employees aware of the effects of harassment, bullying,

cyberbullying and discrimination on students and that are designed:

a. to raise the awareness and sensitivity of school employees to

potential harassment, bullying and discrimination, and

b. to enable employees to prevent and respond to harassment, bullying

and discrimination; and

3. Guidelines relating to the development of nondiscriminatory

instructional and counseling methods, and requiring that at least one

staff member at every school be thoroughly trained to handle human

relations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic

group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation,

gender, and sex; and

4. Guidelines relating to the development of measured, balanced and

age-appropriate responses to instances of harassment, bullying or

discrimination by students, with remedies and procedures following a

progressive model that make appropriate use of intervention, discipline

and education, vary in method according to the nature of the behavior,

the developmental age of the student and the student's history of

problem behaviors, and are consistent with the district's code of

conduct; and

5. Training required by this section shall address the social patterns

of harassment, bullying and discrimination, as defined in section eleven

of this article, including but not limited to those acts based on a

person's actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin,

ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual

orientation, gender or sex, the identification and mitigation of

harassment, bullying and discrimination, and strategies for effectively

addressing problems of exclusion, bias and aggression in educational

settings.