New legislation fights bullying and harassment in schools

Assemblymember William Scarborough has announced the passage by the Assembly of the legislation he supported to help give students a safe learning environment free of harassment and discrimination.
The “Dignity for All Students” Act promotes civility among students and between students and teachers. It will also help create an atmosphere where the focus is on learning and distractions are minimized.
“Students should feel safe when at school so they can concentrate on their academic and personal growth,” said Scarborough. “They should never have to worry about threats or occurrences of bullying, harassment or discrimination.”
He continued, “It’s our job to ensure that every learning environment is safe, supportive and welcoming to all students. The Dignity for All Students is a solid step in the right direction and will help to create a positive environment for our children to learn.”
The legislation defines harassment in schools as the “creation of a hostile environment by conduct or verbal threats, intimidation or abuse that has or would have the effect of unreasonably and substantially interfering with a student’s educational performance, opportunities or benefits, or mental, emotional or physical well-being.”
Scarborough said the legislation also prohibits discrimination on the basis of a student’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnicity, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation or gender.
The bill requires school districts to establish anti-harassment and discrimination policies and guidelines for training school personnel, developing nondiscriminatory instructional and counseling methods and raising staff sensitivity and awareness, which would enable staff to respond to harassment.
The bill also requires the state education commissioner to create a procedure allowing incidents of discrimination and harassment on school grounds or at school functions to be reported to the state education department on an annual basis. Reports must include specific information about the nature of the incident, including the types of bias involved and provide protection for people who report incidents of discrimination and harassment.
“We support the legislation because we feel strongly about a safe school environment,” said Margie Feinberg, spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE).
Should the bill pass, the DOE has programs – already enacted – that would align with it, according to Feinberg.
An example is the Discipline Code of Conduct – this is updated yearly with input from the community, parents, etc. Bullying is considered a level four out of five. “Certain counseling is attached with each infraction,” explained Feinberg.
Last September, too, she said, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein introduced the “Chancellor’s Regulation,” which provides for action taken when one student bullies another.
Included in this is “Training for all,” to help staff deal with mediation. Students are also trained to be peer mediators, with a focus on negotiation and conflict resolution.
We try to have discussions in our schools so conflicts do not fester,” explained Feinberg. “We take this very seriously.”