B.R.A.V.E. BUILDING RESPONSIBILITY ACCEPTANCE VOICE EMPOWERMENT THROUGH

B.R.A.V.E. Brave is an anti-harassment program designed to help eliminate bullying in the Tuscaloosa County School System. BRAVE is based on effective collaborations where students are proactive participants and parents, educators and the communities are involved stakeholders to remove harassment. There is a positive change in culture and climate when all parties become involved stakeholders and take personal responsibility for standing up, speaking out and eliminating bullying. Giving students a voice and making them part of the process empowers them to create sustainable change.

MISSION The mission is to focus schools and communities on the attributes of human decency and kindness as the foundation for a bully-free society.

OBJECTIVES To empower students with the tools necessary to make socially responsible decisions and create sustainable change. To empower students and stakeholders with the knowledge to address the many issues related to bullying and cyber-bullying. To engage in cross-role and role-alike discussions about best practices to address issues related to bullying and cyber-bullying.

HARASSMENT DEFINED The term “harassment” as used in this policy means a continuous pattern of intentional behavior that takes place on school property, on a school bus, at a school-sponsored function, or results in the creation of a hostile environment at school, including, but not limited to, written, electronic, verbal, or physical acts that are reasonably perceived as being motivated by any characteristic of a student, or by the association of a student with an individual who has a particular characteristic

TRAINING The most effective programs to reduce bullying start with training, educating, and taking a comprehensive approach involving collaboration between educators, students, parents, and community. Documenting such trainings is critical to a school’s compliance. The following training methods should be presented all stakeholders listed below. The list includes, but not limited to how to report bullying, options during investigation, chain of command, major areas for bullying, anti-harassment forms, investigation procedures, key people to involve in the investigation, and how to report the results of the investigation.programsbullyingcomprehensive approachstudentsparents

TRAINING PROCEDURES 1.Office of Student Services will train principals and Director of Transportation. 2.Principal will train faculty and staff. 3.Director of Transportation will train bus drivers. 4.Teachers will train students 5.Students - Will be trained on the above training procedures by the faculty and staff. 6.Parents – Will be trained on how to report bullying and the definition of bullying.

MONTHLY PROGRAMS It is crucial that the Tuscaloosa County School System make a consistent effort to train all students on how to identify strategies concerning harassment and bullying. Documenting such trainings is critical to a school’s compliance.

MONTHLY PROGRAMS 1.August- What is Bullying/How to report 2.September- How to Report 3.October- National Bullying Awareness Month 4.November- Bullying survey 5.December- Review data from survey 6.January- Revisit What is Bullying/How to report 7.February- Defining Friendship/Bystanders 8.March- Video- Everyone will make a school wide video that addresses bullying- We are marching against bullying! 9.April- Spring into healthy relationships/how to be a friend campaign May-

Classroom Bus Hallway Restroom Physical Education Class Locker room Lunch room Parking Lot Extracurricular Bus Stop MAJOR AREAS FOR HARASSMENT MR. COOPER

REPORTING PROCEDURES Students and stakeholders should feel comfortable reporting a bullying incident. No one wants to be labeled a tattler. Students need to know reporting an incident will be handled properly and their confidentiality respected. Everyone needs to be educated and trained to accomplish this. Training should include administrators, teachers, parents, students, bus drivers, and the community.

REPORTING PROCEDURES Student or stakeholder will report bullying incident to an administrator, faculty/ staff member or other personnel at the school. Concern will be reported to the school principal or his/her designee and an investigation will begin within 24 hours. Report should be documented on a Tuscaloosa County School System form. At an appropriate time during the investigation parents of all parties shall be notified with information that does not breach federal confidentiality laws. If found in violation, age appropriated consequences shall be given to the accused student(s).

REPORTING PROCEDURES At an appropriate time after the investigation, the parents of the aggressor shall be notified with information that does not breached federal confidentiality laws. After the investigation is over, the principal or his/her designee will inform the reporting person the results of the investigation without breaching federal confidentiality laws. Reporting person has no further concerns and incident is closed. Reporting person feels appropriate steps to address concerns were not taken by the school.

CHAIN OF COMMAND - MRS. CLAY The reporting person has the option to follow the chain of the command if he/she is not satisfied with the response from the office of student services. The chain of command is the following: 1.Teacher5. Deputy Superintendent 2.Assistant Principal6. Superintendent 3.Principal7. Board 4.Region Director

KEY PEOPLE DURING INVESTIGATION 1.Principal/Assistant Principal 2.Teachers/TCSS Personnel 3.Students 4.Counselors 5.Resource Officer 6.Office of Student Services (if criminal, seek parental permission)

INVESTIGATION 1.Allow Student to Visit Counselor. 2.Allow Student to Visit Administrator. 3.Allow Student to Visit Resource Office (if criminal, seek parental permission). 4.Create a timeline from the beginning to the end! 5. If you do not have the evidence, PLEASE DO NOT punish the student!

ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS 1.Verbal warning 2.Student Conference 3.Parent conference 4.After-school detention, 5.Saturday detention 6.In-school intervention 7.Suspension 8.law enforcement (criminal)

SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THE COMPLAINT STUDENT 1. What was your reaction? 2. How do you feel about what happened? 3. What has been the hardest thing for you? 4. How did your family and friends react? Summary? 5. What are the main issues? 6. What do you want as a result of this meeting?

SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR STUDENT AGGRESSOR 1. What happened? 2. What were you thinking at the time? 3. What have you thought about since the incident? 4. Who do you think has been affected by your actions? 5. How have they been affected?

RESULTS/CLOSURE LETTER 1.Gather as much info as possible. 2.Include Key People in Your Decision. 3.Provide Parents with the results of the investigation without breaching federal confidentiality laws. 4.Create a timeline…… 5.Documentation from the complaint, aggressor, faculty and staff, video, students, parents etc..

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HARASSMENT COMPLAINT The purpose of this letter is the resolution to an anti-harassment complaint we received on March 10, 2013 concerning possible harassment toward your child. With that knowledge and information in mind, our investigation found evidence to support the claim of harassment. We have taken measures to address the situation and consider it resolved. However, we will continue to monitor the situation. If you have any further concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me as soon as possible. Sincerely, Principal/Assistant Principal

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HARASSMENT The purpose of this letter is the resolution to an anti-harassment complaint we received on March 10, 2013 concerning your child, Bubba Ray Ray Ledbetter. The nature of the investigation centered on allegations that your child committed an act(s) of harassment or intimidation toward another student. Based on our investigation we found evidence to support your child committed an act of harassment or intimidation toward another student. The following consequences were imposed along with remedial measures to eliminate this behavior in the future. 1 day suspension and a follow-up meeting with our school counselor/ administrator. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Principal/Assistant Principal

NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HARASSMENT The purpose of this letter is the resolution to an anti-harassment complaint we received on March 10, 2013 concerning possible harassment toward your child. With that knowledge and information in mind, our investigation found no evidence to support the claim of harassment toward your child. However, we will continue to monitor the situation. If you have any further concerns or additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me as soon as possible. Sincerely, Principal/Assistant Principal

NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HARASSMENT The purpose of this letter is the resolution to an anti-harassment complaint we received on March 10, 2013 concerning your child, Bubba Ray Ray Ledbetter. The nature of the investigation centered on allegations that your child committed an act(s) of harassment or intimidation toward another student. Based on current information, we did not find evidence to support your child committed an act of harassment or intimidation toward another student. However, we will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you for your time and patience during this investigation. Sincerely, Principal/Assistant Principal

I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT THE PARENT LETTER The purpose of this letter is to inform you that our office received an anti- harassment complaint against your child, Bubba “Ray Ray” Ledbetter. We tried to contact you by phone at to inform you of this situation on June 15 th at 9:45 A.M. However, we were unsuccessful. An investigation concerning the circumstances has been initiated. The nature of the investigation will focus on allegations that your child committed an act(s) of harassment or intimidation toward another student. Please contact me at for further information. Sincerely, Principal/Assistant Principal

STRATEGIES 1.Change lunch schedule 2.Change class schedule 3.Leave class early/late 4.Change seating 5.Contact Parents 6.Resource Officer (if criminal, seek parental permission) 7.Visit the counselor or administrator

QUESTIONS ?