Student Discipline and Bullying

Student Bullying/Discipline 1. Abstract According to the Illinois Legal Aid Online (2018) Bullying can be understood as the aggressive and unwanted traits espoused by school going children. The traits entail some perceived or real power imbalance. Some of the students will use this power (such as their physical strength, popularity, access to privileged information) to harm, blackmail or harm other students. This behavior has to be repeated or have the potential of being repeated for it to qualify as bullying (Illinois Legal Aid Online, 2018).

This paper explores a bullying scenario and maps out a strategy to alleviate bullying among students. In doing so the paper quotes three cases (i.e. Goss v. Lopez, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, and New Jersey v. T.L.O). The rulings in these cases will be used to delineate the process of investigation, disciplining of bullies and bullying prevention measures. The paper also gives recommendations on how to handle bullying cases based on the law and school discipline. Goss v. Lopez Tinker v.

Des Moines Independent Community School District New Jersey v. T.L.O 2. Introduction The bullying action has the characteristic of; causing another student to have the fear of being harmed personally or getting the belongings damaged, mental or physical harm, negative impact on the victim’s class participation and grades, and negative impact on the student’s ability or willingness to participate actively at school.

Bullying can include threats, harassment, stalking, slander, intimidation, theft, physical violence, property destruction, public humiliation (This is what happened to Danielle in the stated scenario), sexual violence or harassment etc. The place, the manner and the time the actions are executed are important aspects that will determine if the action qualifies as bullying. Schools in Illinois have to take immediate action if a bullying situation occurs in one or several of these circumstances.

· During an activity or educational program that is sponsored by the school · Within the premises of the school, on school vehicle, school bus, at a bus stop that is designated for the school bus to stop as the students wait to be picked up, or at activities or events that have been sanctioned by the school · Through dissemination of information from an electronic device or computer that does not belong to the school but whose impact causes substantial school disruptions · Through dissemination of information from an electronic device or computer, network belonging to the school (Illinois Legal Aid Online, 2018) Schools have to prevent bullying immediately because it makes the culture and climate of the school unsafe and violent.

Harassment derails the focus of students from learning as well. Through bullying the victimized students can suffer emotional and mental health problems that will negatively impact on the academic performance.

Some of the steps that schools must institute in the interest of alleviating bullying include: establishing and enforcing rules against bullying, Ensuring that guardians and students are aware of the rules against bullying, having assigned school staff to handle bullying cases, providing parents and students with contact information to which they should report bullying, forwarding the school’s bullying policy to the education board, and updating the rules against bullying after 2 years. The updated rules should be published on the school website (Illinois Legal Aid Online, 2018).

In the three cases cited herein (Goss v. Lopez, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, and New Jersey v. T.L.O), we see that an extensive use and reliance of school discipline-related laws and regulations were used as the foundation for any policies adopted in reference to bullying within schools.

The three cases presented rulings on bullying under the organizational framework as determined by the National Center for Safe and Secure Learning Environments (NCSSLE), which allowed these cases to have a unique blend of the specific disciplinary category being highlighted, i.e bullying, along with all of the related laws and regulations that deal with the disciplinary category.

The three cases highlighted herein all deal with different extents of bullying actions that took place; hence giving a complete spectrum and range of ways that disciplinary action can be taken, under what circumstances as well as to what extent. This allows us to truly understand the entire process of bullying behavior, how it can be investigated and analysed, how bullies can be effectively disciplined and reprimanded as well as how bullying behaviors can be further prevented. 3.

What process will you use to investigate this situation? In Illinois the education board is responsible for supervising every school district in order to ensure that they comply with all parameters required to alleviate instances of bullying. The parameters include bullying prevention, educating learners about bullying, training of staff members about the prevention of bullying, and the adoption of evidence based curricula and programs (stopbullying.gov, n.d).

In order to prevent or stop cases of bullying every school district is required take several actions including investigating the bullying report in the space of not more than 10 days, notifying the students or guardians whose children are involved in the bullying incident(s) (Illinois Legal Aid Online, 2018). In the past schools used to use expulsions and suspensions to deal with bullies but this does not address the issue as will be discussed in the Goss v. Lopez case.

New approaches are being employed including utilizing the counseling and social work services at school, building emotional skills in the students, utilizing the psychological services at school, employing restorative measures or employing the services available in the community (Illinois Legal Aid Online, 2018). According to the Illinois Department of Education (2018) every school district must implement the bullying policy. The policy has to be filed with the education board.

This policy must entail the investigation procedures aimed at determining whether the bullying act is covered by the school district’s scope or jurisdiction. The school has to provide the bullying victim with adequate information concerning the available services within the community and school district such as support services and counseling services. The school personnel charged with bullying shall report the bullying incident to the parents, school personnel and the student. In this case the investigation process will entail ascertaining that the act of bullying occurred.

The process will be handled by the bullying prevention personnel at the school. After determining that the incident(s) occurred the next step will be examining the genesis of the events that climaxed into bullying. The objective is to solve the cause. All the students who were involved in the bullying action will be questioned and their side of the story reviewed. At the end of the process the prevention personnel should have a comprehensive understanding of the events that resulted into the bullying.

In the case of this scenario the investigating staff should understand that the issue originated from the moment Dan confided with Emily about his intention to change his gender. 4. What/whose due process rights do you need to consider? In any investigation it is important to consider and uphold the rights of every person involved. In the scenario presented all the people implicated have a right to fair hearing and they must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In the Goss v.

Lopez case as analyzed by Schimmel (2018) the Supreme Court quoted the 14th amendment highlighting the clause on due process. The clause, when interpreted on the bullying incident, meant that any school student faced with suspension have the right to be notified and to receive hearing. The Goss v. Lopez case entailed a student by the name Dwight Lopez who was accused alongside 8 other students schooling in various Columbus schools. The students were suspended for the allegation of misconduct.

Prior to the suspension the students did not receive any hearing and for that reason they filed an action suit claiming that their 14th amendment rights had been violated. The school district’s pupil personnel director, Norval Goss was one of the respondents in that case. The court ruled in the students’ favor. According to the court the law that allowed the principal to suspend students without a hearing was not constitutional. The case was also heard by the Supreme Court.

In its determination, the Supreme Court found that The State of Ohio had extended that right to a fair hearing into education and that the court could not rescind the right without adhering to fair procedures. The procedures, in the Supreme Court’s view, were meant to help ascertain that the misconduct claims indeed took place. The court explained that any student faced with suspension also have liberty and property interests protected through due process. In the Tinker v.

Des Moines Independent Community School District case some Des Moines students came up with a strategy to make their Vietnam War views known (Ellis, 2018). They were in support of the war. They decided to put on some black armbands and stage a fast during the eve of the new years and on the 16the of December. The school principal got word about the plan and henceforth embarked on creating a policy that forbade any student from wearing armbands. Any student refusing to remove an armband would be suspended.

Two students wore the armbands in school and as a result they were suspended. John Tinker wore an armband to school the following day and the same fate befell him (Ellis, 2018). The students suspended sued Des Moines through the parents for the allegation that the school violated students’ right to free expression. The suit was aimed at forcing the school district to stop enforcing the policy through disciplining their children.

The court in its ruling stated that the action taken by the school district was in order and reasonable since school discipline had to be upheld. The Appeals court also upheld the decision (Ellis, 2018). In the New Jersey v. T.L.O. (n.d.) case, T.L.O, a student, had his purse searched on suspicion that she was hiding some cigarettes. Some marijuana, cigarettes and a list with some student names who owed T.L.O money was found. T.L.O was charged for marijuana possession.

Prior to the trial T.L.O tried to hide evidence although he never succeeded. The New Jersey court ruled that she was guilty and was put under probation for 1 year. The Supreme Court also held that despite the 4th amendment reasonable searches on students without regard to the likely cause were applicable under the 4th amendment. In that regard the court ruled that the search was reasonable bearing in mind the circumstances that existed at the time.

In relation to the three cases it is clear that everyone involved in the case has rights that must be considered. The school has the right to institute disciplinary measures against any bullies as implied in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case. Further the school district can search for evidential information without violating the 4th amendment rule. However, the school must be cognizant of the 14th amendment rule that requires a fair hearing and due process.

In this case the boys who bullied Danielle and Emily have the right to due process. 5. What disciplinary options are available? The school can choose to suspend the students who are determined to have been on the wrong and/or recommend support and counseling services for them. In order to prevent and alleviate instances of bullying the students have to be taught the consequences of bullying to the victim and the disciplinary measures that apply to the bullies. The best cause of action under the.