esu 13 bullying

Legal and Practical Responses to Allegations of Bullying

Karen HaaseHarding & Shultz

(402) [email protected]

H & S School Law

@KarenHaase

Bullying?“any ongoing pattern of physical, verbal, or electronic abuse on school grounds, in a vehicle owned, leased, or contracted by a school being used for a school purpose

by a school employee or his or her designee, or at school-sponsored

activities or school-sponsored athletic events.”

Cyberbullying?Cyberbullying, v: the use of technology

such as computers and cell phones to engage in repeated, and hostile behavior

by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.

The term "cyberbullying" is used when the victim or bully is a child or teen. The term cyber harassment is used when the

victim is an adult.

Not My Students!

Tell teacher: 27% of preteens and only 9% of teens

Tell friend: 44% of preteens and 72% of teens

Told no one: 16% of preteens and teens

“Garden Variety” Bullying Cases

Yap v. Oceanside Union Free S.D., (E.D. N.Y. 2004)

Chinese-American student bullied by peers

• Beginning in 4th grade• Called him names: “Chinese asshole,”

“Chinese bitch”• Slapped in the face• Thrown into the emergency exit of

bus • Mother called principal


Principal’s Response – 4th Grade • Met with victim and aggressors after

initial report• Communicated with parents about

problems • Required all involved students to eat

lunch with her


Principal’s Response – 5th Grade • Met entire 5th grade class • met with each of the students named

as bullies• investigated and documented each

allegation• admonishing the perpetrators. • denied lunch, recess, school bus

privileges


Court• School district “doggedly but

unsuccessfully” attempted to address the Yaps’ allegations of bullying and harassment.

• Court “must avoid second-guessing the disciplinary decisions made by school administrators.”

M.D. v. School Bd. Of Richmond (6th Cir. 2010)

African-American Kdg student bullied by Hispanic peers

• “repeatedly and continuously directed vulgar and offensive racial epithets” at student

• Physically assaulted him• Stole his property• Called him “gay”


Mom reported bullying to school, asked for copy of policy

School staff routinely told parents staff could do no more that speak to bullies

Vice Principal: “I can only punish within limits of my authority. I can’t control what kids do.”


In April, Principal agreed to “personally address” the situation

Parents withdrew from school Principal met with “bullying

specialist” to develop plan Parents refused to return student to

school


Parents sued under Title VI (race) and IX (sex)

Court: • “The issue here is not whether

Plaintiff has suffered severe bullying on account of his race and sexual orientation at the hands of fellow students. . .


Court: • “The pivotal issue is whether Plaintiff

states a claim against [the school] based on ill-treatment by fellow students.”

• Although staff did nothing but speak to offending students for two months, principal was willing to get involved

• School not deliberately indifferent

G.M v. Dryceek Joint Elem. Sch. (Cal. 2012)

Student bullied 5 times in 6 months• After first incident teacher said she’d

watch the situation• After similar incident teacher and

counselor met with bullies• Assistant principal met with bullies• Bully punched victim in face and

received 5-day suspension

G.M v. Dryceek Joint Elem. Sch. (Cal. 2012)

Court: school officials took action aimed at stopping the harassment each time Deliberate indifference requires that

district know of harm and failed to act

J.C. v. Beverly Hills Unif. S. D. (Cal.)

8th grade girls talking smack about a peer; uploaded to YouTube

Principal suspended student who uploaded

Dad was an entertainment industry lawyer; sued district claiming First Amendment protection


Court: The good intentions of the school notwithstanding, it cannot discipline a student for speech, “simply because young persons are unpredictable or immature, or because, in general, teenagers are emotionally fragile and may often fight over hurtful comments.”

$107,150.80 in attorneys fees


Dad: • Hopes his daughter learns a lesson

about the limits on governmental intrusion.

• “The school doesn’t have that kind of power. It’s up to the parents to discipline their child.”

• Chastised daughter: “That wasn’t a nice thing to do.”

Bullying as “Harassment”

Sutherin v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 40 (N.D. Okla. 2010)

Student with Asperger's subjected to bullying by peers Alleged that school staff did not stop

and also called her “crazy” Sued in federal court


Failure to protect • Compulsory attendance laws do not

create duty for school to protect from third party bullies

• School’s policy did not undertake this obligation

• Claim dismissed


Equal protection claim • School: student treated like any other

student• Parents: 32 documented incidents of

bullying • Court: difference in treatment without

rational basis


Section 504 claim • School: no evidence that school staff

treated student badly because of disability

• Court: other students treated this student badly because of disability; school was deliberately indifferent to student misconduct

Phillips v. Robertson County Bd. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012)

Student with Asperger syndrome • Private counselor sent letter • Parent constantly reporting bullying

and asking for help• School developed system for kid

• Preferential seating• Card system to signal when feeling

bullied or stressed

Phillips v. Robertson County Bd. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2012)

Teacher left student classroom unsupervised• Student struck in the eye by bully• Sustained permanent damage

Teacher testified• Didn’t know about disability• Didn’t know about accommodations

Court ordered $300,000 judgment

Estate of Lance v. Kyer(Texas 2010)

9 year old boy with disabilities hanged himself in school restroom after being bullied Parents sued claiming disability

discrimination Court: district personnel had a

consistent policy of ignoring bullying against all students, so no discrimination

Kendall v. West Haven Dep’t. of Ed.(Conn. 2000)

Elementary special ed student injured by another student• Parents called and reported prior

incidents to assistant principal• Assistant principal said she would take

care of it• Assistant principal then called out of

building

Kendall v. West Haven Dep’t. of Ed.(Conn. 2000)

The student seriously injured when the bully attacked him in the school cafeteria. Court awarded $67,000 in damages Found the assistant principal

personally liable

Werth v. Board of Directors,(E.D. Wis. 2007)

9th Grade student in woodshop• “an abnormally shaped skull,

characteristic facial appearance, short stature, and dental abnormalities”

• hump on his back; considerably smaller than other students

• Peers threw wood at him• Hit with safety glasses


Parents sued school and individual teacher • Equal Protection

‒Parents: treated differently because of disability‒Court: No evidence of school/staff animus

because of disability‒“Werth’s claim is that he was entitled to more

than equal protection”• Rehabilitation Act/ADA Claim

‒Court outlines 5-part test


Disability Harassment Test• Student falls within statutorily protected

category (disability, race, gender)• Student harassed because of protected group• Harassment was sufficiently severe or

pervasive and deprived the student of access to educational benefits or opportunities provided by the school

• Defendant knew of the harassment• Defendant was deliberately indifferent to the

harassment

Dear Colleague Letter Bullying ≠ Harassment If based on protected class Must use anti-discrimination laws

Must have “well publicized” policies Staff cannot encourage, tolerate, fail

to address or ignore harassment Investigation and response must be

immediate and effective Must prevent reoccurrence

Dear Colleague Letter “By limiting its response to a specific

application of its anti-bullying disciplinary policy, a school may fail to properly consider whether the student misconduct also results in discriminatory harassment”

Practical Responses to Bullying

Curricular Individualized Administrative

Curricular Responses: SEL Social Emotional Learning: teaching

our children how to detect and manage their own

emotions make good social decisions

Teach kids about RELATIONSHIPS How does that make you feel? What can you do about it? Parents must manage emotions

Curricular Responses: SEL

Teach kids to recognize, report and refuse bullying

Social problem-solving also improves academic performance and a number of other factors for students and schools

Statistically successful bullying prevention is social-emotional

Curricular Responses: Bystander Training

Peers present in 85% of bullying in school setting

92% of elementary students report witnessing bullying

Bystanders intervene 11% of the time – interveners had high social standing

Bystanders experience anger, guilt, worry, etc.

Curricular Responses: Bystander Training

Identity socially influential students, provide training in• Recognizing bullying • Empathy (and guilt)• Specific strategies for intervening• When to report; “tattling” vs.

“telling”

Individual Responses

Individual Responses: Victim

Interventions• Social skill training• Hygiene training with, sped

teacher, counselor or other staff • Peer mentor Consider 504 or SpEd eval Follow up is key with OCR

Individual Responses: Bully

Interventions• Social skill training• SpEd students: BIP Consider 504 or SpEd eval

Administrative Responses: Staff Supervision

Doe v. Rich Central H.S. (2012)

Boy complained of being bullied in locker room

Security camera caught staff talking Boy assaulted Case settled

Doe v. Clover H.S. (2012)

Three football players claimed they were hazed

13 players were suspended The sheriff's office investigated Bullies sued to be returned to school

and team

Creekbaum v. Livingston Parish Sch. Dist. (2011) Three football players urinated on

freshman’s locker Victim sued claiming emotional

distress and negligent supervision Coach: never had a problem before

Other Administrative Responses Keep “Responding and Reporting”

separate in your mind (and your staff’s mind)

DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT

Don’t make promises you can’t keep

Documenting Responses

Legal and Practical Responses to Allegations of Bullying

Karen HaaseHarding & Shultz

(402) [email protected]

H & S School Law

@KarenHaase

esu 13 bullying

Documents

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school administrators

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school bus privilegesyap

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