Category
Bullying Policy—Reporting and Investigations
Category
Bullying Policy—Reporting and Investigations
State law addresses reporting and investigations.
Delaware Code 14-4112A Office of School Criminal Offense and Bullying Ombudsperson.
(a) There is hereby established within the State Department of Justice, the Office of School Criminal Offense and Bullying Ombudsperson.
(b) The purpose of the Ombudsperson is to ensure the proper administration of the school criminal offense reporting law contained in § 4112 of this title and the school bullying prevention law contained in § 4164 of this title.
(c) The Ombudsperson shall have the power to:
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(1) Investigate and seek to resolve complaints made by and concerns of members of the public, school officials, and pupils regarding criminal offenses and incidents of bullying committed on school property;
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(2) Investigate complaints regarding the alleged failure of school officials to report criminal offenses as required under § 4112 of this title and incidents of bullying as required under § 4164 of this title;
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(3) Establish policies and procedures for eliciting, receiving, investigating, verifying, and resolving complaints; and
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(4) Perform such other acts as are necessary to carry out the purpose set forth in subsection (b) of this section.
Delaware Code 14-4164 School bullying awareness and prevention; criminal youth gang detection.
(b) (2) Each school district and charter school shall establish a policy which, at a minimum, includes the following components:
- e. A requirement that any school district or charter school employee that has reliable information that would lead a reasonable person to suspect that a person is a target of bullying must immediately report it to the administration.
- f. A requirement that each school have a procedure for the administration to promptly investigate in a timely manner and determine whether bullying has occurred, and that such procedure include investigation of such instances, including a determination of whether the target of the bullying was targeted or reports being targeted wholly or in part due to the target's race, age, marital status, creed, religion, color, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or national origin. This subsection does not preclude schools from identifying other reasons or criteria why a person is a target of bullying.