1. Improve School Climate for Students with Disabilities: Training for Teams

2. Bullying & Harassment of Students with Disabilities:
An Overview of Legal Obligations & Strategies to Curtail Mean Behavior through the IEP/504 for Teams
Presenter: Ms. Angie Smith, M.A.
Presenter: Mr. Douglas Jones, M.A.

3. A project coordinated by
Made possible by generous funding from the
A project coordinated by

4. Welcome and Overview • When to ask questions
• Today will consist of two sections:
- Laws that protect students with disabilities
- Strategies for addressing bullying and harassment through the IEP/504 Plan
• Have fun and share so we can all learn from each other

5. Training Objectives
• Increased understanding of the laws pertaining to bullying & harassment
• Understanding of additional legal protections pertaining to students with disabilities
• Provide school staff with the tools and skills needed to address bullying & harassment through IEP or 504 Plan

6. Individual Goals
• What do You Hope to get from today’s training? • Do you have particulars areas of interest or questions that you would like to focus on?

7. Looking at Bullying, Harassment and Mean Behavior through the Lens of Disability
• Quick review of bullying, harassment and mean behavior and the obligations associated with each • This review sets the stage for the discussion of these behaviors when students with disabilities are involved.

8. What Do We Know About the Impact on Students with Disabilities
• They are disproportionately targets of bullying & harassment • They can and do initiate incidents of bullying • They have additional protections under the law which need to be addressed

9. Public Act No. 14-172 Definition of Bullying
REPEATED written, oral, and electronic communications and/or physical acts and gestures by one or more students directed at or referring to another student and that:
- causes the student physical or emotional harm or damage to his or her property
- puts the student in reasonable fear of harm or property damage
- creates a hostile school environment for the student,
- infringes on the student’s rights at school, or
- substantially disrupts the education process or a school’s orderly operation.

10. School Intervention is Required When the Incident
• creates a hostile school environment for the student, • infringes on the student’s rights at school, or • substantially disrupts the education process or a school’s orderly operation.

11. Important Components
• Parents/guardians and students should be notified about process by which bullying should be reported at beginning of school year. (Added 2014)
• Students can make anonymous reports regarding bullying.
• School climate specialist in building receives the reports and investigates suspected incidents.

12. Important Components (continued)
• Parents of all parties must be notified when an investigation is opened. (Added 2014)
• When an incident takes place, both students must receive interventions.
• Development of a safety plan for targeted student may be warranted.

13. Staff Involvement
When an incident is witnessed by or reported to any school employee:
• Within 1 school day: School employee makes an oral report to the school climate specialist
• Within 3 school days: School employee makes a written report to school climate specialist
• Promptly after receiving the report: School climate specialist completes investigation
• Within 48 hours after investigation: Parents notified of school response and consequences

14. Indicators of Bullying
• Behavior is Intentional
• There is an Imbalance of Power in the relationship
• Behavior is Repetitive

15. Federal laws that protect students with disabilities against bullying/harassment
• Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

16. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• ADA is a Civil Rights Law protecting and including students, staff and members of the public with disabilities
• Underlying values of the ADA include:
- Equal Opportunity
- Integration
- Full participation of individuals with disabilities

17. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
• Is applicable to any recipient of federal funds
– All public schools
• Mirrors the language of the ADA
• Has functionally identical protections as ADA
• In order to comply with the 504/ADA a district must comply with its obligations under IDEA

18. Who is Covered Under Section 504/ADA?
An individual who:
• has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,
• has a record of such an impairment or
• is regarded as having such an impairment.
A student does NOT need to require special education to be covered under Section 504

19. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• Is a federal funding law that provides funding to states to ensure that certain children with disabilities have adequate educational resources.

20. Who is Covered Under IDEA?
Children ages 3-21 who are determined by a multidisciplinary team to be eligible within one or more of 13 specific disability categories:
• autism • specific learning disabilities
• deafness • speech/language impairments
• deaf-blindness • traumatic brain injury
• hearing impairments • visual impairments
• mental retardation • orthopedic impairments
• other health impairments • multiple disabilities
• serious emotional disturbance
AND who need special education and related services.

21. For All Students
Children covered under either IDEA or Section 504 must receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. “Dear Colleague” letters, 2010, 2014

22. Bullying/Harassment can be a denial of FAPE
When a student with a disability is bullied/harassed a team meeting should be convened to determine
• If the student’s needs have changed so that the IEP/504 Plan is no longer beneficial
• What different services need to be added to the IEP/504 Plan if needs have changed
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter: Responding to Bullying of Students with Disabilities (Oct , 2014)

23. Bullying/Harassment can be a denial of FAPE (continued)
• This is true regardless of whether or not bullying/ harassment is based on a disability
• All staff and volunteers, including parents who chaperone field trips, should be trained in recognizing and properly reporting bullying/ harassment
• If the report involves a student with a disability then school authorities should convene a team meeting
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter: Responding to Bullying of Students with Disabilities (Oct , 2014)

24. Harassment v. Bullying • Harassment does not need to: - Be repetitive
- Have intent or have been directed at a specific target
- Be reported but should have been reasonably known
Statutes are violated when peer harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation (in CT), gender identity (in CT) is serious enough that it creates a hostile environment and such harassment is encouraged, tolerated, not adequately addressed, or ignored by school.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter: Harassment and Bullying (Oct. 2010)

25. School Obligations If harassment has occurred, a school must:
• Take prompt and effective steps to end the harassment
• Eliminate any hostile environment
• Prevent its recurrence.
These duties are a school’s responsibility:
• Even if the misconduct also is covered by an anti- bullying policy
• Regardless of whether the student makes a complaint, asks the school to take action, or identifies the harassment as a form of discrimination.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter: Harassment and Bullying (Oct. 2010)

26. Steps Schools Should Take When Harassment Occurs
• Provide training or other interventions not only for the initiators, but for the larger school community.
• Ensure that all students, their families and school staff can recognize harassment if it occurs and know how to respond.
• Issuance of new policies against harassment/new procedures for school community to report allegations of harassment.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights. ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter: Harassment and Bullying (Oct. 2010)

27. Disability Harassment is Prohibited Under:
• Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act where schools receive federal funds (virtually all schools) • ADA and 504 “provide parents and students with grievance procedures and due process remedies at the State and Local level”
Source ‘Dear Colleague’ letter Dept. of Education 2000

28. Disability Harassment Under 504 & ADA
• Intimidation or abusive behavior based on disability that creates a hostile environment by interfering with or denying a student’s receipt or benefits of services or opportunities
• Harassment that is sufficiently
- Severe, Persistent OR Pervasive may create a hostile environment obligating the District to investigate and respond appropriately
Source ‘Dear Colleague’ letter Dept. of Education 2000

29. Examples of Harassment that could lead to a hostile environment
• A student repeatedly places furniture or other objects in the path of students who use wheelchairs, impeding students’ ability to enter the classroom • Subjecting a student to inappropriate physical restraint because of conduct related to his disability resulting in the student avoiding school by increased absences • Students continually taunt a student with an intellectual disability so she does not participate in class
Source ‘Dear Colleague’ letter Dept. of Education 2000

30. Department of Education Recommendations
• Create an environment that is aware of disability concerns and is sensitive to disability harassment by weaving these issues into the curriculum or programs outside the classroom.
• Encourage all school and community members to discuss disability harassment and to report incidents.
• Widely publicize anti-harassment statements and procedures for handling discrimination complaints.
- This information increases awareness of what constitutes harassment, makes clear that such conduct is prohibited and that the institution will not tolerate such behavior.
- Ensure that effective action, including disciplinary action, where appropriate, is taken.
Source: Dept. of Education

31. Department of Education Recommendations (continued)
• Provide training for staff and students to recognize and handle potential harassment.
• Counsel both target(s) and initiator(s) involved in an incident of harassment.
• Implement monitoring programs to follow up on resolved issues of disability harassment.
• Regularly assess and modify existing disability harassment policies and procedures to ensure effectiveness.
Source: Dept. of Education

32. When investigating if a school has engaged in disability-based harassment, OCR will consider:
• Was a student with a disability bullied by one or more students based on the student’s disability? • Was the bullying conduct sufficiently serious to create a hostile environment? • Did the school know or should it have known of the conduct?

33. One way to address bullying and harassment is through the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan for students who are either initiators or targets of the behavior.

34. Specific Strategies to Address Bullying & Harassment in the IEP/504
Include language in Plans that ensure students are able to:
• Self-Advocate
• Identify bullying or harassing behavior
• Differentiate between mean and friendly behavior
• Report their experience
• Signal adults when bullied/harassed or are triggered to initiate bullying or harassing behavior

35. Specific Strategies (continued)
Take time to work with the student to:
• Identify a safe adult to notify if targeted or triggered
• Identify a safe location to go when targeted or triggered
• Plan for how educators can intervene while supporting social development

36. Specific Strategies (continued)
Ensure there are opportunities in place to engage: • Circles of Friends • Social skills development, both individual and in groups • Counseling or other supportive services • Parent counseling or training

37. Specific Strategies (continued)
If necessary, include:
• Supervision or separation from student(s) who initiated bullying, while maintaining the Least Restrictive Environment
• Early departure from class
• Affirmation to targets that the behavior is not their fault
• Student in strategies/IEP development process
• Functional Behavioral Assessment
• Behavioral Intervention Plan

38. IEP Development Activity
The following students may be experiencing, bullying, harassment, and/ or mean behavior.
Which techniques, best practices or approaches could you use to address through an IEP/504 plan?

39. IEP Development Scenarios
In a small group, discuss the following:
• What is your analysis of the situation based on the info you know from the scenario?
• What might be a potential remedy for the situation?
• How might that be included in the IEP/504 Plan?
• What ramifications does the issue have for the school climate?

40. Scenario Debrief
• Where have you used IEPs/504 Plans to address bullying, harassment or mean behavior?
• Can you think of future situations where you will consider doing this?
• What other strategies have you used to address bullying, harassment and mean behavior toward students with disabilities?

41. Wrap-Up & Thank You
• Questions, Comments and Concerns • Evaluation