Legal Requirements

The General Assembly passed Public Act 95-0349, which deals with bullying prevention education.

This bill requires each school district to create, maintain and file a policy on bullying with the State Board of Education beginning 180 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act. The bill was signed by the Governor on August 23, 2007. Each school district must communicate its policy on bullying to its students and their parent or guardian on an annual basis. The policy must be updated and then filed every two years with ISBE.

A school board is required to have a student discipline policy that includes provisions to address students who have demonstrated behaviors that put them at risk for aggressive behaviors, “including without limitations, bullying as defined in the policy”. The policy must include procedures for notifying parents or legal guardians and early intervention procedures based on available community based and district resources.

Bullying is contrary to State law and the policies of United CUSD 304 Schools.

No student shall be subjected to bullying: 

1. During any school-sponsored education program or activity. 

2. While in school, on school property, on school buses or other school vehicles, at designated school bus stops waiting for the bus, or at school-sponsored or school-sanctioned events or activities. 

3. Through the transmission of information from a school computer, a school computer network, or other similar electronic school equipment.

4. Through the transmission of information from a computer that is accessed at a non-school-related location, activity, function, or program or from the use of technology or an electronic device that is not owned, leased, or used by a school district or school if the bullying causes a substantial disruption to the educational process or orderly operation of a school. This item (4) applies only in cases in which a school administrator or teacher receives a report that bullying through this means has occurred and does not require a district or school to staff or monitor any non-school-related activity, function or program. 

Nothing in this policy is intended to infringe upon any right to exercise free expression or the free exercise of religion or religiously based views protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or under Section 3 or Article I of the Illinois Constitution. 

Bullying Reporting Process

A. Definitions:

Bullying:

Includes “cyber-bullying” and means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal repeated act or conduct, including communications made in writing or electronically, directed toward a student or students that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following:

1. Placing the student or students in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s or students’ person or property. 

2. Causing a substantially detrimental effect on the student’s or students’ physical or mental health. 

3. Substantially interfering with the student’s or students’ academic performance. 

Bullying may take various forms, including without limitation one or more of the following: harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, theft, public humiliation, destruction of property, or retaliation for asserting or alleging an act of bullying. This list is meant to be illustrative and non-exhaustive. 

Cyber Bullying:

Includes through the use of technology or any electronic communication, including without limitation any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic system, photoelectric system, or photo optical system, including without limitation electronic mail, internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications. “Cyber-bullying” includes the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages if the creation or impersonation creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying. “Cyber-bullying” also includes the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons if the distribution or posting creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying. 

Sexual Harassment

No person, including a District employee or agent, or student, shall harass or intimidate another student based upon a student’s gender, color, race, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or other protected group status. Also, no student, faculty or staff member should suffer such conduct. The District will not tolerate harassing or intimidating conduct, whether verbal, physical, or visual, that affects tangible benefits of education, that unreasonably interferes with a student’s educational performance, or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment. 

Restorative Measure: A continuum of school-based alternatives to exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions and expulsions, that (i) are adapted to the particular needs of the school and community, (ii) contribute to maintaining school safety, (iii) protect the integrity of a positive and productive learning climate, (iv) teach students the personal and interpersonal skills they will need to be successful in school and society, (v) serve to build and restore relationships among students, families, schools, and communities, (vi) reduce the likelihood of future disruption by balancing accountability with an understanding of students’ behavioral health needs in order to keep students in school, and (vii) increase student accountability if the incident of bullying is based on religion, race, ethnicity, or any other category that is identified in the Illinois Human Rights Act. 

School Personnel: Persons employed by, on contract with, or who volunteered in a school district, charter school, or non-public, non-sectarian elementary or secondary school, including without limitation school and school district administrators, teachers, school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, school resource officers and security guards.