POLICY
ON PREVENTION OF HARASSMENT OF STUDENTS
I. Purpose.
A.
The Spaulding Union High School District (“the
District") is committed to providing a safe and supportive school
environment in which all students are treated with respect. This policy involves incident(s) and/or
conduct that occurs on school property, on a school
bus or at a school-sponsored activity, or misconduct not on school property, on
a school bus or at a school-sponsored activity where direct harm to the welfare
of the school can be demonstrated.
B.
The purpose of this policy is to prevent harassment as defined in 16 V.S.A. §
11 (a)(26) and amended by Act 91 of 2004, and to
ensure that the District's responses to allegations of harassment comply with
16 V.S.A. §565 as amended by Act 91 of 2004, Title VI and IX of the Civil
Rights Act. It is the further purpose of this policy, when it is found that
harassment has occurred, to ensure that prompt and appropriate remedial action,
reasonably calculated to stop harassment, is taken by school district
employees.
C.
It is the intent of the District to apply and enforce this policy in a manner
that is consistent with and protects students' rights to free expression under
the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The District respects and
promotes the rights of students and others to speak freely and to express their
ideas, including ideas that may offend the
sensibilities of others. However, the District does not condone and shall take
action in response to behavior that interferes with the learning of students
and is not otherwise protected expression.
II. Definitions
A.
Harassment
(I)
"Harassment" means an incident or incidents of verbal, written,
visual or physical conduct based on or motivated by a student's or a student's
family member's actual or perceived race, creed, color, national origin,
marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or disability that has 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.
(2)
Harassment includes conduct which violates subsection (1) of this definition
and constitutes one or more of the following:
(a) Sexual harassment, which means
conduct that includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and
other verbal, written, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature when one
or both of
the following occur:
(i) Submission to that conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a student's education.
(ii)Submission to or rejection of such conduct by a student is used as a component of the basis for decisions affecting that student.
(b)
Racial harassment. which means conduct directed at the characteristics of a
student's or a student's family member's actual or perceived race or color, and
includes the use of epithets, stereotypes, racial slurs, comments, insults,
derogatory remarks, gestures, threats, graffiti display or circulation of
written or visual material, and taunts on manner of speech and negative
references to racial customs.
( c) Harassment of members of other protected categories,
which means conduct directed at the characteristics of a student's or a
student's family member's actual or perceived creed, national origin, marital
status, sex, sexual orientation, or disability and includes the use of
epithets, stereotypes, slurs, comments, insults, derogatory remarks, gestures,
threats, graffiti, display, or circulation of written or visual material,
taunts on manner of speech, and negative references to customs related to any
of these protected categories.
B.
"Complaint" means an oral or written report by a student or
any person to an employee alleging that a student has been subjected to conduct
that may rise to the level of harassment.
C.
"Complainant" means a student who has filed an oral or written
complaint to an employee or is the alleged victim in a report made by another
alleging conduct and/or incident(s) that may rise to the level of harassment,
D.
"Employee" includes any person employed directly by or
retained through a contract with the District, an agent of the school, a school
board member, a student teacher, an intern or a school volunteer. For purposes
of this policy, "agent of the school" includes supervisory union
staff.
E.
"Designated Employee" means an employee who has been
designated by the District to receive complaints of harassment pursuant to 16
V.S.A. § 565(c)(l).
F.
"Principal" means the building level administrator, or his/her
designee, at an independent or public school designated by a school governing
board to be a school principal, headmaster, or technical center director.
A. A student who believes that s/he has been harassed, or who witnesses conduct that s/he believes might constitute harassment, should report the conduct to a designated employee, or to any other school employee.
B. When a student reports such conduct to a school
employee, other than a designated employee, that
school employee shall refer the report to a designated
employee.
C.
An employee who witnesses conduct that s/he believes
might constitute student harassment under this policy shall take prompt and
appropriate action to stop the conduct and immediately 'report the conduct to a
designated employee.
D.
Any other person who witnesses conduct that s/he
believes might constitute student harassment under this policy should report
the conduct to a designated employee.
E:
Consistent with this policy and 16 V.SA §565, Superintendent or Principal shall
develop procedures regarding the reporting of student harassment complaints and
the District’s handling of such reports.
F. Annually, the District
shall select two or more designated employees to receive complaints and shall
publicize their availability.
A.
Consistent with this policy and 16 V.S.A. §565, the Superintendent or
Principal shall develop procedures for complaint response following a report,
initiation of an investigation, investigation, independent review, and
alternative dispute resolution provisions.
B.
Independent Review: A complainant who desires independent review under 16
V.S.A. § 565(f) because s/he is either dissatisfied with the final
determination of the school officials as to whether harassment occurred, or
believes that, although a final determination was made that harassment
occurred, the school's response was inadequate to correct the problem, shall
make such request in writing to the Superintendent. Upon such request, the
Superintendent shall initiate an independent review, and shall comply with the
District's procedures and any applicable rules on this subject promulgated by the
Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Education ("Commissioner").
The District may request an independent review at any stage of the process.
V. Discipline and/or Corrective Action
If
after investigation, harassment has been found, the District shall take prompt
and appropriate disciplinary or remedial action reasonably calculated to stop
the harassment. Consistent with this policy, the District's Student Conduct and
Discipline policy and 16 V.S.A. §565, the Superintendent or Principal
shall develop procedures regarding discipline and corrective action including
final action on a complaint, retaliation, false complaints, and appeal
provisions.
There
will be no adverse action taken against a person for reporting a complaint of
harassment when the complainant has a good faith belief that harassment
occurred or is occurring or for participating in or cooperating with an
investigation. Any person who knowingly makes a false accusation regarding
harassment will be subject to disciplinary action.
VI. Confidentiality: Notification of
Results: and Record Keeping
A.
The privacy of (1) the complainant. (2)
the accused individual, and (3) the witnesses shall be maintained
consistent with the District's obligations to investigate, to take appropriate
action and to comply with laws governing the disclosure of student records or
other applicable discovery or disclosure obligations.
B.
Subject to state and/or federal laws protecting the confidentiality of
personally identifiable student information, the complainant and the accused
individual shall be informed in writing of the results of the investigation.. If either the complainant or the alleged individual is
under the age of 18, subject to the above limitation, his or her parent(s) or
guardian(s) shall be provided with a copy of this policy and related
procedures, notified when an informal resolution to a harassment complaint is
attempted, notified when a complaint is filed, and notified in writing of the
investigation results. An authorized school official may seek waiver of
confidentiality rights in order to inform the complainant of remedial measures
undertaken.
C. The Superintendent or
Principal shall assure that a record of any complaint, its investigation and
disposition, as well as any disciplinary or remedial action taken following the
completion of the investigation is maintained by the District in a confidential
file accessible only to authorized persons.
The report of the investigation shall be kept for at least six years
after the report is completed.
VII. Mandatory Reporting to State Agencies.
A.
If a harassment complaint is made that conduct by a licensed educator might be
grounds under the State Board of Education Rules for suspension or revocation
of a license or endorsement, the Principal shall report to the Superintendent
and the Superintendent shall report the alleged conduct to the Commissioner.
B.
When a person responsible for reporting suspected child abuse under 33 V.SA. §
4911, et seq., determines that a complaint made pursuant to this policy must be
reported to the Commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, he or
she shall make the report as required by law and related District policy. If
the victim is a vulnerable adult as that term is defined in 33 V.S.A.
§6902(14), the report shall be made to Adult Protective Services in accordance
with 33 V.S.A. § 6903 and 6904.
C.
Nothing in this policy shall preclude anyone from reporting any incidents
and/or conduct that may be considered a criminal act to law enforcement
officials.
VIII. Dissemination of Information. Training, Comprehensive Plan for Responding to Student Misbehavior and Data Gathering.
A.
Dissemination of Information. Annually, prior to the commencement of
curricular and co curricular activities, the District shall provide notice of
this policy and its procedures to students, custodial parents or guardians of
students, and employees. Notice to students shall be in age-appropriate
language and include examples of harassment. At a minimum, this notice shall
appear in any publication of the District that sets forth the comprehensive
rules, procedures and standards of conduct for the District.
B.
Training. The Superintendent or Principal shall develop age-appropriate
methods of discussing the meaning and substance of this policy with students
and staff to help prevent harassment. Training may be implemented within the
context of professional development and the school curriculum to develop broad
awareness and understanding among all members of the school community. Staff
training shall enable staff to recognize, prevent and respond to harassment.
C.
Comprehensive Plan for Responding to Student Misbehavior. The District's
comprehensive plan pursuant to 16 V.S.A. §1161a(a)(6)
shall include provisions that promote the positive development of youth and
actions to prevent misconduct from escalating to the level of harassment.
D.
Data Gathering. The District shall provide the Vermont Department of Education
with data requested by the Commissioner.
IX. Complaints to the
In addition to, or an alternative to
filing a harassment complaint pursuant to this policy, a person may file a
harassment complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission or the Office for
Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education at the addresses noted in the
procedures accompanying this policy.
Legal
References:
Act 91 of 2004 (2004
16 V.S.A. §§ 11(a)
(26), 565 (harassment), 1161a.
21 V.S.A. § 495(5) (retaliation)
33 V.S.A. §§ 4911 et
seq. (child abuse)
9 V.S.A. §§ 4500 et seq. (public accommodations; retaliation)
20
U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. (Title IX. Civil
Rights Act)
34 C.F.R. Part
106
42 U .S.C. §2000d (Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964)
20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99
(FERPA)
Saxe v.
Cross References.
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4. See
5.