A. Who Receives the Report
In each school building, the building principal or his designee is the person responsible for receiving oral or written reports of harassment or discrimination. Any School Board employee who receives a report of harassment or discrimination based upon race, color, sex, disability, national origin, ethnicity or religion shall inform the building principal or his designee immediately.
B. Who Acts as Investigator if a Student is the Harasser/Discriminator
The building principal or his designee will act as the School Board Compliance Officer for the purpose of investigating allegations of harassment or discrimination against a student by another student.
C. Who Investigates if Employee or School Official is the Harasser/Discriminator
If the principal or his designee receives a complaint of harassment or discrimination against a student by a school employee or official, the principal or his designee will promptly reduce the complaint to writing and forward the complaint to the Department of Human Resources, Office of Compliance for investigation.
D. Who Investigates if a Principal, School Administrator, the Superintendent or a School Board Member is the Harasser/Discriminator
If the complaint involves the Superintendent, the matter will be directed to School Board to determine whether a third party should be assigned to investigate the matter. Complaints involving School Board members should be directed to the Chairman of the School Board or the Vice Chairman if the Chairman is involved. The remaining School Board members will determine the appropriate course of investigation under these circumstances.
If any complaint involves a principal or his designee, or a school administrator, the report shall be filed directly with the Department of Human Resources, Office of Compliance with notice to the appropriate Assistant Superintendent. If the complaint involves the Superintendent, the report will be filed with the School Board.
III. Investigation
Upon receipt of a report or complaint of harassment or discrimination of a student based upon race, color, sex, disability, national origin, ethnicity or religion, the designated investigator will as soon thereafter as practical, undertake or authorize an investigation. That investigation may be conducted by a third party if designated by the Superintendent or School Board.
Whether a particular action or incident constitutes a violation of this policy requires a determination based on all the facts and surrounding circumstances.
The investigation report will include a determination of whether the allegations have been substantiated as factual and whether they appear to be violations of this policy. The investigator's obligation to conduct this investigation will not be extinguished by the fact that a criminal investigation involving the same or similar allegations is also pending or has been concluded.
IV. Action by the School Administration or School Board
Upon receipt of a report that a violation has occurred, the principal or his designee, the Superintendent or appropriate assistant superintendent, or the School Board, will take prompt, appropriate formal or informal action to address, and where appropriate, remediate the violation and discipline the student using student discipline procedures or the employee using employee discipline procedures. Action taken for violation of this policy shall be consistent with the requirements of applicable local, state and federal law and regulation and School Board policies and regulations of a related nature or degree of severity.
In the event that the evidence suggests that the harassment or discrimination at issue is also a crime in violation of state or local law, the Superintendent or his designee shall report the results of the investigation to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
V. Reprisal
Submission of a good faith complaint or report of harassment or discrimination based upon race, color, sex, disability, national origin, ethnicity or religion will not affect the complainant's or reporter's future educational opportunities or benefits, future employment, grades, learning or working environment or work assignments.
The School Board, the Superintendent, the principal or designee will discipline or take appropriate action against any student, teacher, administrator, school employee or other individual who is subject to the direction of the School Board if such person retaliates against any person who reports an incident or alleged harassment or discrimination under this policy or against any person who testifies, assists or participates in a proceeding or investigation under this policy. Retaliation includes, but is not limited to, any form of intimidation, reprisal or harassment.
VI. Harassment or Discrimination by Third Parties Not Subject to the Control by the School Board
The School Board or the Superintendent may direct that appropriate action be taken regarding third parties involved in the harassment or discrimination.
VII. Posting of Policy and Training
The Superintendent/or designee will conspicuously post this policy against harassment and discrimination or a summary thereof in each school in a place accessible to faculty, administrators, and other school personnel. The notice will include the name, mailing address and telephone number of that School's compliance official, the name and address of the state agency responsible for investigating the allegation of harassment or discrimination in educational opportunities and the mailing address and telephone number of the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights.
This policy will be referenced in the student handbook and will be made available upon request of parents, students, and other interested parties.
The Superintendent/ or designee will develop a method of reviewing the policy with students and employees. Training on the requirements of anti-harassment and non-discrimination and the appropriate responses to issues of harassment and discrimination will be provided to all
school personnel on an annual basis, and at such times as the Superintendent determines are appropriate or necessary.
VIII. Failure to Report
Any teacher, administrator, or other school employee or official who has or receives notice that a student has or may have been the victim of harassment or discrimination based upon sex, race, disability, color, national origin, ethnicity or religion by a student, teacher, administrator, other school personnel or by any other person who is participating in, observing, or otherwise engaged in activities, under the auspices of the School Board, is required to immediately report the alleged acts to an appropriate school division official. Any person who should have reasonably known that a student has or may have been the victim of harassment or discrimination based on sex, race, disability, color, national origin, ethnicity or religion as set forth above, should promptly or as soon thereafter as possible report the alleged acts to an appropriate school division official. Failure to report acts of harassment or discrimination against a student will be investigated as misconduct.
¹This policy should not be read to abrogate other School Board policies or regulations prohibiting other forms of unlawful discrimination, inappropriate behavior, and/or hate crimes within the school division. It is the intent of the School Board that all such policies be read consistently to provide the highest level of protection from unlawful discrimination in the provision of educational services and opportunities.
² "Tolerate" is defined to mean allow to happen, fail to intervene, encourage, fail to report or otherwise, provided that the person knew or could have reasonably been expected to know about the actions.
³This policy is made pursuant to the requirements of 42 U.S.C. §2000d; 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq.; 29 U.S.C.§791 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. §12131-12134.
Adopted by School Board: June 3, 2003