Guidance addresses professional development on bullying prevention, intervention, and response.

(e) The district board of education shall:

• 1. Annually examine the training needs of school employees and volunteers who have significant contact with students for the effective implementation of the harassment, intimidation, or bullying policies, procedures, programs, and initiatives of the district board of education and implement training programs for school employees and volunteers who have significant contact with students, consistent with N.J.S.A. 18A:37-17.b.
• i. The annual examination of training needs shall take into consideration the findings of the annual review and update of the code of student conduct, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:16-7.1(a)2.
• ii. Information regarding the district board of education's policy against harassment, intimidation, and bullying shall be incorporated into the school district's employee training program.
• (1) The program shall be provided to full- and part-time staff, volunteers who have significant contact with students and persons contracted by the school district to provide services to students.

(a) Each school leader shall create, implement, and complete an individual professional development plan (PDP) that:

• 1. Aligns with the Professional Standard for School Leaders set forth in N.J.A.C. 6A:9-3.4 and the Standard for professional learning in N.J.A.C. 6A:9C-3.3;
• 2. Derives from the results of observations, evidence, and recommendations included in the annual performance evaluation of the school leader;
• 3. Identifies professional learning goals that address specific individual, school, or school district goals;
• 4. Grounds professional learning in objectives related to improving teaching, learning, and student achievement, and aligns to the school and/or school district plan for professional development; and
• 5. Includes training on: school law, ethics, and governance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:26-8.2; and other statutory requirements related to student safety, bullying and harassment, and well-being.

Document addresses professional development on bullying prevention.

d. Within one year after being newly elected or appointed or being re-elected or re-appointed to the board of education, a board member shall complete a training program on harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools, including a school district’s responsibilities under P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-13 et seq.). A board member shall be required to complete the program only once. e. Training on harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools shall be provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, in consultation with recognized experts in school bullying from a cross section of academia, child advocacy organizations, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, and government agencies.

b. The academy shall develop and implement a School Safety Specialist Certification Program. A school safety specialist appointed pursuant to section 2 [C.18A:17-43.3] of this act shall be required to acquire the certification. The certification program shall provide training, free of charge, to newly-appointed school safety specialists in the areas of bullying, hazing, truancy, Internet safety, emergency planning, emergency drills, drugs, weapons, gangs and school policing, and any other areas deemed necessary by the academy. The academy shall also offer annual training sessions for certified school safety specialists. The academy shall develop training modules in both traditional and online formats.

a. As used in this section, “school leader” means a school district staff member who holds a position that requires the possession of a chief school administrator, principal, or supervisor endorsement. b. A school leader shall complete training on issues of school ethics, school law, and school governance as part of the professional development for school leaders required pursuant to State Board of Education regulations. Information on the prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying shall also be included in the training. The training shall be offered through a collaborative training model as identified by the Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the State Advisory Committee on Professional Development for School Leaders.

b. A school district shall:

• (1) provide training on the school district’s harassment, intimidation, or bullying policies to school employees and volunteers who have significant contact with students;
• (2) ensure that the training includes instruction on preventing bullying on the basis of the protected categories enumerated in section 2 of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-14) and other distinguishing characteristics that may incite incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying; and
• (3) develop a process for discussing the district’s harassment, intimidation or bullying policy with students. A school district may satisfy the training required pursuant to this subsection by utilizing training that may be provided at no cost by the Department of Education, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, or any other entity. A school district may, at its own discretion, implement a training program which imposes a cost on the district.

c. Information regarding the school district policy against harassment, intimidation or bullying shall be incorporated into a school’s employee training program and shall be provided to full-time and part-time staff, volunteers who have significant contact with students, and those persons contracted by the district to provide services to students.

a. A school district shall form a school safety team in each school in the district to develop, foster, and maintain a positive school climate by focusing on the on-going, systemic process and practices in the school and to address school climate issues such as harassment, intimidation, or bullying. A school safety team shall meet at least two times per school year.

b. A school safety team shall consist of the principal or his designee who, if possible, shall be a senior administrator in the school and the following appointees of the principal: a teacher in the school; a school anti-bullying specialist; a parent of a student in the school; and other members to be determined by the principal. The school anti-bullying specialist shall serve as the chair of the school safety team.

c. The school safety team shall:

• (1) receive any complaints of harassment, intimidation, or bullying of students that have been reported to the principal;
• (2) receive copies of any report prepared after an investigation of an incident of harassment, intimidation, or bullying;
• (3) identify and address patterns of harassment, intimidation, or bullying of students in the school;
• (4) review and strengthen school climate and the policies of the school in order to prevent and address harassment, intimidation, or bullying of students;
• (5) educate the community, including students, teachers, administrative staff, and parents, to prevent and address harassment, intimidation, or bullying of students;
• (6) participate in the training required pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-13 et seq.) and other training which the principal or the district anti-bullying coordinator may request;
• (7) collaborate with the district anti-bullying coordinator in the collection of district-wide data and in the development of district policies to prevent and address harassment, intimidation, or bullying of students; and
• (8) execute such other duties related to harassment, intimidation, and bullying as requested by the principal or district anti-bullying coordinator.

d. The members of a school safety team shall be provided professional development opportunities that address effective practices of successful school climate programs or approaches.

e. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, a parent who is a member of the school safety team shall not participate in the activities of the team set forth in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection c. of this section or any other activities of the team which may compromise the confidentiality of a student.

Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, all candidates for administrative and supervisory certification shall have satisfactorily completed a program on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention.

a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a formal protocol pursuant to which the office of the executive county superintendent of schools shall investigate a complaint that documents an allegation of a violation of P.L.2002, c.83 (C.18A:37-13 et seq.) by a school district located within the county, when the complaint has not been adequately addressed on the local level. The office of the executive county superintendent shall report its findings, and if appropriate, issue an order for the school district to develop and implement corrective actions that are specific to the facts of the case. b. The commissioner shall ensure that the personnel of the office of the executive county superintendent of schools who are responsible for conducting the investigations receive training and technical support on the use of the complaint investigation protocol.

a. The Commissioner of Education, in consultation with recognized experts in school bullying from a cross section of academia, child advocacy organizations, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, and government agencies, shall establish inservice workshops and training programs to train selected public school employees to act as district anti-bullying coordinators and school anti-bullying specialists in accordance with the provisions of P.L.2010, c.122 (C.18A:37-13.1 et al.). The commissioner shall seek to make the workshops and training programs available and administered online through the department’s website or other existing online resources. The commissioner shall evaluate the effectiveness of the consulting group on an annual basis. The inservice training programs may utilize the offices of the executive county superintendent of schools, or such other institutions, agencies, or persons as the commissioner deems appropriate. Each board of education shall provide time for the inservice training during the usual school schedule in order to ensure that appropriate personnel are prepared to act in the district as district anti-bullying coordinators and school anti-bullying specialists. b. Upon completion of the initial inservice training program, the commissioner shall ensure that programs and workshops that reflect the most current information on harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools are prepared and made available to district anti-bullying coordinators and school anti-bullying specialists at regular intervals.

There is created a special fund in the Department of Education, which shall be designated the “Bullying Prevention Fund.” The fund shall be maintained in a separate account and administered by the commissioner to carry out the provisions of this act. The fund shall consist of: (1) any monies appropriated by the State for the purposes of the fund; (2) any monies donated for the purposes of the fund; and (3) all interest and investment earnings received on monies in the fund. The fund shall be used to offer grants to school districts to provide training on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention and on the effective creation of positive school climates, and to help fund related personnel expenses.

19.a. Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, all candidates for teaching certification who have completed a teacher preparation program at a regionally-accredited institution of higher education shall have satisfactorily completed a program on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention. b. Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, any person seeking certification through the alternate route shall, within one year of being employed, satisfactorily complete a program on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention. c. The State Board of Education shall establish the appropriate requirements of the program on harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention. d. The State board shall, as part of the professional development requirement established by the State board for public school teachers, require each public school teacher to complete at least two hours of instruction on harassment, intimidation, or bullying prevention in each professional development period.