CPS officials consider new bullying policy

Columbia Public School officials decried a combination of new state laws related to bullying that they feel complicate the legal situation of schools across Missouri.

“I feel like we’re getting bullied,” CPS Board of Education member Paul Cushing said Monday night.

The board introduced its new policy to handle bullying in response to House Bill 1583, passed by the state legislature this year. The bill prohibits bullying on school property, the behavior defined as “intimidation or harassment” that “substantially interferes with the educational performance, opportunities, or benefits of any student without exception; or substantially disrupts the orderly operation of the school.” The law also requires schools to create forms of reporting bullying to a designated employee at that school.

CPS’ proposal would make each school principal to designated recipient of bullying reports. It would require employees to report bullying or cyberbullying to the principal within two days of seeing or hearing about it, and begin an investigation into the issue.

However, administrators and board members feared the new bullying law left some students vulnerable to new felony charges. The district partnered with EdCounsel, a local law firm specializing in education law. Emily Omohundro presented the changes Monday, and the concerns with related to HB 1583’s conflict with an upcoming criminal code overhaul that begins January 1. Omohundro said the state definition of bullying was similar to a new criminal classification of first-degree harassment, when a person “without good cause, engages in any act with the purpose to cause emotional distress to another person, and such act does cause such person to suffer emotional distress.”

CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman railed against the changes, saying they were dismayed at the effect HB 1583 had on it and other school districts. While no school districts testified in support of it, Missouri House records show no one opposed the bill in its committee stage. Stiepleman said the conflicts between the law and the new criminal code could undo some of the work CPS had done to reduce youth contact with law enforcement, particularly minority youth, which has a disproportionately high contact in Boone County.

Under the proposed policy, each principal would be able to choose another staff member to help in handling bullying reports. Stiepleman said they would begin training school principals and other administrators to handle and investigate the new bullying reports this week. However, he wanted to ensure each school’s handling of the issue wasn’t shaped by just one person.

“It’s going to be imperative that those teams reflect more than just the principal, that they reflect a multitude of experiences and perspectives so that kids are getting a fair shake,” Stiepleman said.

The board will have a chance to vote on the proposal next month.