Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Stanfield
SYNOPSIS
Broadens definition of harassment, intimidation, or bullying in Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning school bullying and amending P.L.1982, c.163 and P.L.2002, c.83.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1982, c.163 (C.18A:17-46) is amended to read as follows:
1. Any school employee or contracted service provider observing or having direct knowledge from a participant or victim of an act of violence shall, in accordance with standards established by the commissioner, file a report describing the incident to the school principal in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, and a copy of [same] the report shall be forwarded to the district superintendent.
The principal shall notify the district superintendent of schools of the action taken regarding the incident. Two times each school year, between September 1 and January 1 and between January 1 and June 30, at a public hearing, the superintendent of schools shall report to the board of education all acts of violence, vandalism, and harassment, intimidation, or bullying which occurred during the previous reporting period. The report shall include the number of reports of harassment, intimidation, or bullying, disaggregated by race, gender, sexual orientation, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch under the National School Lunch Program, special education designation, and English language learner designation, the status of all investigations, [the nature of the bullying based on one of the protected categories identified in section 2 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-14),] the names of the investigators, the type and nature of any discipline imposed on any student engaged in harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and any other measures imposed, training conducted, or programs implemented, to reduce harassment, intimidation, or bullying. The information shall also be reported once during each reporting period to the Department of Education. The report [must] shall include data broken down [by the enumerated categories as listed in section 2 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-14), and data broken down] by each school in the district, in addition to district-wide data, and the data shall be disaggregated by race, gender, sexual orientation, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch under the National School Lunch Program, special education designation, and English language learner designation. It shall be a violation to improperly release any confidential information not authorized by federal or State law for public release.
The report shall be used to grade each school for the purpose of assessing its effort to implement policies and programs consistent with the provisions of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-13 et seq.). The district shall receive a grade determined by averaging the grades of all the schools in the district. The commissioner shall promulgate guidelines for a program to grade schools for the purposes of this section.
The grade received by a school and the district shall be posted on the homepage of the school's website. The grade for the district and each school of the district shall be posted on the homepage of the district's website. A link to the report shall be available on the district's website. The information shall be posted on the websites within 10 days of the receipt of a grade by the school and district.
If a school district's policy permits a preliminary determination to be made on whether a reported incident or complaint is a report outside the scope of the definition of harassment, intimidation, or bullying pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-14), the superintendent shall also provide annually to the board of education information on the number of times a preliminary determination was made that an incident or complaint was outside the scope of that definition for the purposes of the State's monitoring of the school district.
Verification of the reports on violence, vandalism, and harassment, intimidation, or bullying shall be part of the State's monitoring of the school district, and the State Board of Education shall adopt regulations that impose a penalty on a school employee who knowingly falsifies the report. A board of education shall provide ongoing staff training, in cooperation with the Department of Education, in fulfilling the reporting requirements pursuant to this section. The majority representative of the school employees shall have access monthly to the number and disposition of all reported acts of school violence, vandalism, and harassment, intimidation, or bullying.
(cf: P.L.2021, c.338, s.2)
2. Section 2 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-14) is amended to read as follows:
2. As used in this act:
"Electronic communication" means a communication transmitted by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager;
"Harassment, intimidation or bullying" means any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident or a series of incidents [, that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic,] that takes place on school property, at any school-sponsored function, on a school bus, or off school grounds as provided for in section 16 of P.L.2010, c.122 (C.18A:37-15.3), that substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students and that:
a. a reasonable person should know, under the circumstances, will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging the student's property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his person or damage to his property;
b. has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or group of students; or
c. creates a hostile educational environment for the student by interfering with a student's education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the student.
(cf: P.L.2010, c.122, s.11)
3. Section 3 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-15) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. Each school district shall adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation or bullying on school property, at a school-sponsored function or on a school bus. The school district shall adopt the policy through a process that includes representation of parents or guardians, school employees, volunteers, students, administrators, and community representatives.
b. A school district shall have local control over the content of the policy, except that the policy shall contain, at a minimum, th