Bill Text: TX HB1348 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to policies, procedures, and training to address bullying of public school students.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-01 - Referred to Public Education [HB1348 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HB1348-Introduced.html
82R3340 CAS-D | ||
By: Marquez | H.B. No. 1348 |
|
||
|
||
relating to policies, procedures, and training to address bullying | ||
of public school students. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 25.0342(a), Education Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) In this section, "bullying" has the meaning assigned by | ||
Section 37.0832 [ |
||
|
||
|
||
[ |
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
[ |
||
|
||
|
||
SECTION 2. Section 37.001(b), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(b) In this section: | ||
(1) "Bullying" has the meaning assigned by Section | ||
37.0832. | ||
(2) "Harassment" means threatening to cause harm or | ||
bodily injury to another student, engaging in sexually intimidating | ||
conduct, causing physical damage to the property of another | ||
student, subjecting another student to physical confinement or | ||
restraint, or maliciously taking any action that substantially | ||
harms another student's physical or emotional health or safety. | ||
(3) [ |
||
to be harmed, using: | ||
(A) a firearm, as defined by Section 46.01(3), | ||
Penal Code; | ||
(B) a knife, as defined by Section 46.01(7), | ||
Penal Code; or | ||
(C) any other object to be used with intent to | ||
cause bodily harm. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 37.083(a), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(a) Each school district shall adopt and implement a | ||
discipline management program to be included in the district | ||
improvement plan under Section 11.252. The program must provide | ||
for prevention of and education concerning unwanted physical or | ||
verbal aggression and[ |
||
|
||
SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 37, Education Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 37.0832 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 37.0832. BULLYING, INCLUDING CYBERBULLYING: POLICIES, | ||
PROCEDURES, AND TRAINING. (a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Bullying": | ||
(A) means engaging in written or verbal | ||
expression or physical conduct, including an action motivated by a | ||
perceived imbalance of power based on another student's actual or | ||
perceived personal characteristics, behavior, beliefs, or | ||
citizenship status or by another student's association with a third | ||
person and based on the third person's characteristics, behavior, | ||
beliefs, or citizenship status, that: | ||
(i) has the effect or will have the effect | ||
of physically harming a student, damaging a student's property, or | ||
placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student's person | ||
or of damage to the student's property; | ||
(ii) is sufficiently severe, persistent, or | ||
pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, | ||
threatening, or abusive educational environment for a student; | ||
(iii) interferes with a student's | ||
educational opportunities; or | ||
(iv) substantially disrupts the orderly | ||
operation of a school; and | ||
(B) includes cyberbullying. | ||
(2) "Cyberbullying" means bullying that is done using | ||
electronic communication, including electronic media. | ||
(b) This section applies to bullying that: | ||
(1) occurs on or is delivered to school property or to | ||
the site of a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off | ||
school property; or | ||
(2) occurs off school property or outside of a | ||
school-sponsored or school-related activity, if the conduct | ||
interferes with a student's educational opportunities or | ||
substantially disrupts the orderly operation of a school or | ||
school-sponsored or school-related activity. | ||
(c) The board of trustees of each school district shall | ||
adopt a policy concerning bullying that: | ||
(1) prohibits bullying of a student; | ||
(2) prohibits retaliation against any person, | ||
including a victim, a witness, or another person, who in good faith | ||
provides information concerning an incident of bullying; | ||
(3) provides for the appropriate intervention for a | ||
student who engages in bullying or falsely accuses another of | ||
bullying; | ||
(4) requires each school principal or the principal's | ||
designee to develop a campus strategy for protecting each campus | ||
student from being bullied or related retaliation that includes | ||
imposing appropriate discipline to reduce the risk of incidents of | ||
bullying and offering appropriate assistance to a victim of | ||
bullying or a student engaging in bullying; | ||
(5) establishes a procedure for reporting an incident | ||
of bullying within a district and on each district campus that | ||
specifies the action a student should take in case of bullying; and | ||
(6) addresses any other issue concerning bullying that | ||
the board of trustees determines to be appropriate. | ||
(d) The procedure under Subsection (c)(5): | ||
(1) must enable a student to report an incident of | ||
bullying to any school district employee; | ||
(2) must require the posting of a list on each campus | ||
that identifies each person who has special training or designation | ||
to receive a report of an incident of bullying; | ||
(3) may establish an anonymous reporting system; and | ||
(4) may include any other provision concerning | ||
reporting an incident of bullying that the board of trustees | ||
determines to be appropriate. | ||
(e) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, not | ||
later than the second school day after the date a school principal | ||
acquires knowledge of an incident of bullying, the school district | ||
superintendent or the superintendent's designee shall, by | ||
telephone or electronic communication, provide notice of the | ||
incident to the parent or guardian of the victim of the alleged | ||
bullying and the parent or guardian of the student who allegedly | ||
engaged in the bullying. In accordance with a policy adopted by the | ||
district board of trustees, the superintendent or the | ||
superintendent's designee may notify other persons, as | ||
appropriate. If the superintendent or the superintendent's | ||
designee is not successful in reaching a parent or guardian by | ||
telephone or electronic communication, the superintendent or the | ||
superintendent's designee shall contact the parent or guardian in | ||
writing as soon as practicable. The principal shall inform a victim | ||
of bullying of the victim's right to request that the victim's | ||
parent or guardian not be notified of the incident. On a request | ||
from a victim, the principal shall request the superintendent or | ||
the superintendent's designee to grant a waiver from the | ||
notification requirement under this subsection. Granting or denial | ||
of the waiver is at the sole discretion of the superintendent or the | ||
superintendent's designee, must be based on the facts of the case, | ||
and must be documented in writing. Granting a waiver under this | ||
subsection does not relieve a district employee of any other duty | ||
imposed by the policy adopted under Subsection (c). | ||
(f) Each school district shall provide annual written | ||
notice of the policy adopted under Subsection (c) and the | ||
notification requirements under Subsection (e) to each district | ||
student, the parent or guardian of each district student, and each | ||
district employee or volunteer. The notice must be posted on the | ||
district's Internet website and at each district campus in the | ||
cafeteria, on each major bulletin board, in a prominent place in the | ||
area of campus administrative offices, and at any other appropriate | ||
location determined by the school principal. The policy also must | ||
be included in each student and employee handbook. | ||
(g) Each school district shall provide the following | ||
training concerning bullying: | ||
(1) annual training in preventing, identifying, | ||
responding to, and reporting incidents of bullying for district | ||
administrators and for other district employees and volunteers who | ||
have significant contact with students; | ||
(2) instruction to district students regarding the | ||
elements of bullying; and | ||
(3) an educational program for district students and | ||
the parents and guardians of district students in preventing, | ||
identifying, responding to, and reporting incidents of bullying. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012 | ||
school year. | ||
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |