A. Harassment
(1) “Harassment”
means an incident or incidents of verbal, written, visual or physical conduct
based on or motivated by a student’s or a student’s family member’s actual or
perceived race, creed, color, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual
orientation, or disability that has the purpose or effect of objectively and
substantially undermining and detracting from or interfering with a student’s
educational performance or access to school resources or creating an
objectively intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.
(2) Harassment
includes conduct that violates subsection (1) of this definition and
constitutes one or more of the following:
a. Sexual
harassment, which means conduct that includes unwelcome sexual advances,
requests for sexual favors and other verbal, written, visual, or physical
conduct of a sexual nature when one or both of the following occur:
i.
Submission to that conduct is made either
explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a student’s education.
ii.
Submission to or rejection of such conduct by a
student is used as a component of the basis for decisions affecting that
student.
b. Racial
harassment, which means conduct directed at the characteristics of a student’s
or a student’s family member’s actual or perceived race or color, and includes the
use of epithets, stereotypes, racial slurs, comments, insults, derogatory
remarks, gestures, threats, graffiti, display, or circulation of written or visual
material, and taunts on manner of speech and negative references to racial
customs.
c. Harassment
of members of other protected categories, which means conduct directed at the
characteristics of a student’s or a student’s family member’s actual or
perceived creed, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or
disability and includes the use of epithets, stereotypes, slurs, comments,
insults, derogatory remarks, gestures, threats, graffiti, display, or
circulation of written or visual material, taunts on manner of speech, and
negative references to customs related to any of these protected categories.
B. “Complaint” means an oral or
written report by a student or any person to an employee alleging that a
student has been subjected to conduct that may rise to the level of harassment.
C. “Complainant” means a student
who has filed an oral or written complaint to an employee or is the alleged
victim in a report made by another alleging conduct and/or incident(s) that may
rise to the level of harassment.
D. “Employee”
includes any person employed directly by or retained through a contract with the
District, an agent of the school, a school board member, a student teacher, an
intern or a school volunteer. For purposes of this policy, “agent of the
school” includes supervisory union staff.
E. “Designated Employee” means an
employee who has been designated by the District to receive complaints of
harassment pursuant to 16 V.S.A. § 565(c)(1).
F. “Principal” means the building
level administrator, or his or her designee, at an independent or public school
designated by a school governing board to be a school principal, headmaster, or
technical center director.
A. A student who believes that she or he has been
harassed, or who witnesses conduct that she or he believes might constitute
harassment, should report the conduct to a designated employee or to any other
school employee.
B. When a student reports such conduct to a school
employee, other than a designated employee, that school employee shall refer
the report to a designated employee.
C. An employee who witnesses conduct that she or
he believes might constitute student harassment under this policy shall take
prompt and appropriate action to stop the conduct and immediately report the
conduct to a designated employee.
D. Any other person who witnesses conduct that she
or he believes might constitute student harassment under this policy should
report the conduct to a designated employee.
E. Consistent with this policy and 16 V.S.A. §565,
the Superintendent or Principal shall develop procedures regarding the
reporting of student harassment complaints and the District’s handling of such
reports.
F. Annually, the District shall select two or
more designated employees to receive complaints and shall publicize their
availability.
A. Consistent with this policy and 16 V.S.A. §565,
the superintendent or principal shall develop procedures for complaint response
following a report, initiation of an investigation, investigation, independent
review, and alternative dispute resolution provisions.
B. Independent Review: A complainant who desires
independent review under 16 V.S.A. § 565(f) because she or he is either
dissatisfied with the final determination of the school officials as to whether
harassment occurred, or believes that, although a final determination was made
that harassment occurred, the school’s response was inadequate to correct the
problem, shall make such request in writing to the superintendent. Upon such
request, the superintendent shall initiate an independent review and shall
comply with the District’s procedures and any applicable rules on this subject
promulgated by the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Education
(“Commissioner”). The District may request an independent review at any stage
of the process.
If
after investigation, harassment has been found, the District shall take prompt
and appropriate disciplinary or remedial action reasonably calculated to stop
the harassment. Consistent with this policy, the District’s Student Conduct and
Discipline policy and 16 V.S.A. §565, the superintendent or principal shall
develop procedures regarding discipline and corrective action including final
action on a complaint, retaliation, false complaints, and appeal
provisions. There will be no adverse
action taken against a person for reporting a complaint of harassment when the
complainant has a good faith belief that harassment occurred or is occurring or
for participating in or cooperating with an investigation. Any person who
knowingly makes a false accusation regarding harassment will be subject to
disciplinary action.
A. The privacy of (1) the complainant, (2) the
accused individual, and (3) the witnesses shall be maintained consistent with
the District’s obligations to investigate, to take appropriate action, and to
comply with laws governing the disclosure of student records or other applicable
discovery or disclosure obligations.
B. Subject to state and/or federal laws protecting
the confidentiality of personally identifiable student information, the
complainant and the accused individual shall be informed in writing of the
results of the investigation. If either the complainant or the alleged
individual is under the age of 18, subject to the above limitation, his or her
parent(s) or guardian(s) shall be provided with a copy of this policy and
related procedures, notified when an informal resolution to a harassment
complaint is attempted, notified when a complaint is filed, and notified in
writing of the investigation results. An authorized school official may seek
waiver of confidentiality rights in order to inform the complainant of remedial
measures undertaken.
C. The superintendent or principal shall assure
that a record of any complaint, its investigation and disposition, as well as
any disciplinary or remedial action taken following the completion of the
investigation, is maintained by the District in a confidential file accessible
only to authorized persons. The report of the investigation shall be kept for
at least six years after the report is completed.
VII. Mandatory Reporting to State
Agencies
A. If a harassment complaint is made that conduct
by a licensed educator might be grounds under the State Board of Education
Rules for suspension or revocation of a license or endorsement, the principal
shall report to the superintendent and the superintendent shall report the
alleged conduct to the Commissioner.
B. When a person responsible for reporting
suspected child abuse under 33 V.S.A. § 4911, et seq., determines that a
complaint made pursuant to this policy must be reported to the Commissioner of
the Department for Children and Families, he or she shall make the report as
required by law and related District policy. If the victim is a vulnerable
adult, as that term is defined in 33 V.S.A. §6902(14), the report shall be made
to Adult Protective Services in accordance with 33 V.S.A. § 6903 and 6904.
C. Nothing in this policy shall preclude anyone
from reporting any incidents and/or conduct that may be considered a criminal
act to law enforcement officials.
VIII. Dissemination of Information, Training, Comprehensive Plan for Responding to Student Misbehavior and Data Gathering
A. Dissemination of Information Annually,
prior to the commencement of curricular and co-curricular activities, the
District shall provide notice of this policy and its procedures to students,
custodial parents or guardians of students, and employees. Notice to students
shall be in age-appropriate language and include examples of harassment. At a
minimum, this notice shall appear in any publication of the District that sets
forth the comprehensive rules, procedures and standards of conduct for the
District.
B. Training The
superintendent or principal shall develop age-appropriate methods of discussing
the meaning and substance of this policy with students and staff to help
prevent harassment. Training may be implemented within the context of
professional development and the school curriculum to develop broad awareness
and understanding among all members of the school community. Staff training
shall enable staff to recognize, prevent and respond to harassment.
C. Comprehensive Plan for Responding to Student
Misbehavior The District’s comprehensive plan pursuant to 16 V.S.A.
§1161a(a)(6) shall include provisions that promote the positive development of
youth and actions to prevent misconduct from escalating to the level of
harassment.
D. Data Gathering The District shall
provide the Vermont Department of Education with data requested by the
Commissioner.
IX. Complaints to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and the U.S. Office of Civil Rights
In
addition to, or as an alternative to filing a harassment complaint pursuant to
this policy, a person may file a harassment complaint with the Vermont Human
Rights Commission or the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of
Education at the addresses noted in the procedures accompanying this policy.
Date Warned: 8/15/05
Adopted: 9/7/05