Safe Schools Coalition Report

Bullying Report: How Are Washington State Schools Doing?

The final version of The Bullying Report was released December 4th in a hearing before the House Education Committee. The Report was authored by Lauren Hafner of the University of Washington on behalf of the Safe Schools Coalition and Washington State PTA and in collaboration with The ARC of Washington State, Children's Home Society of Washington, League of Women Voters of Washington, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Office of the Washington State Attorney General, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Washington Education Association. Thank you to all our partners and to Lauren, Karen Reed (graphic designer at WEA) and Gabi Clayton (webspinner for Safe Schools).

The Bullying Report is available on the web.

What local parent/youth/community activists can do:

1. Look up your own district in Appendix G. Did they even respond to the PTA's survey? If not, or even if they did, you can ask for a copy of their bullying policy and procedure. If they have none, tell them you are concerned that they aren't complying with the Anti-Bullying Act of 2002. Ask if you can help serve on a committee to develop a policy.
2. If they did participate in the PTA's survey, look up their rating in the matrix in Appendix G. Only 3 districts got the highest rating (0+) for both their policy and procedure, meaning they were even more stringent than the model policy and procedure from OSPI and even those have room for improvement. Maybe your district...
• DEFINITIONS: failed to list all the forms of harassment, intimidation and bullying that they were legally required to list -- race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and mental or physical disability -- (that would have given them an "0-") and/or failed to list all the examples of "other characteristics" that were listed in the OSPI model -- physical appearance, clothing or other apparel, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and marital status (again "0-") and/or defined harassment, intimidation and bullying in a way that doesn't satisfy the law ("0-") and/or
• COMPLAINTS: left anonymous reporting up to principals (earning them an "0") or failed to address anonymous reporting at all ("0-") and/or failed to offer both informal and formal complaint procedures ("0-")
• INTERVENTIONS & REFERRALS: omitted referral to law enforcement, lists of appropriate interventions/response, or false reports being a violation of policy ("0-")
• INVESTIGATIONS & DISCIPLINE: didn't explicitly guarantee that students can have a trusted adult present during investigations ("0-") and/or allowed their staff two full months after an incident to conduct an investigation and, if appropriate, discipline offenders (earning them an "0") or did not discuss minimum standards of investigation at all ("0-")
• DISSEMINATION: informed administrators about the new standards, but not all staff and/or informed staff, but not students or at least not in language that they can understand (as opposed to legalese) and/or informed certificated staff about the new policy but not bus drivers, security officers, lunchroom staff, paraprofessionals who supervise the playground and/or left families or the community out of the loop and/or informed people on one occasion, but didn't require buildings to post the policy prominently for ongoing reference
• TRAINING: informed staff of the policy and procedure but failed to provide them with adequate training regarding prevention, intervention, or investigation [adequate training means at least two or three hours per adult, more for teachers and building administrators]
• EDUCATION: informed students of the policy and procedure but failed to adopt curricula or all-school programs that actually address the recognition and prevention of prejudice and harassment, the devastating emotional consequences of bullying, how to defend yourself or a classmate nonviolently, and how and why to seek help from adults when needed [adequate education means at least three to five hours per student every year plus on-going reinforcement through language arts and social studies activities, peer mediation projects, etc.].
3. Thank your superintendent for participating in the survey if he or she did. If the district got a rating of "0" or "0+" thank your school board for that. But take school board members and administrators out for coffee so you can talk one-on-one and tell them you want them to amend their policy and/or procedure and/or to enhance their dissemination, training or education efforts to make your district to be as safe a place for learning as it possibly can be. Describe what exactly you hope they will do and ask how you, as a student, parent, community member or employee can be of help. Ask for a timeline, so you can know when to expect a response from them. Then stay in contact until you get the changes you need.

Need one-on-one consultation about your particular situation? We can help. Contact us: mailto:questions@safeschoolscoalition.org
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