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2011 SESSION

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 625 Requesting the Department of Education to study the nature and effectiveness of local school divisions' antibullying policies. Report.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 4, 2011 Agreed to by the Senate, February 22, 2011

 

WHEREAS, beginning in 2005, local school boards in Virginia have been required to include the topic of bullying in their codes of student conduct, with electronic means of bullying added in 2009; and

WHEREAS, Virginia public school students also receive instruction on bullying prevention as part of their character education requirement; and

WHEREAS, studies show that between 15 and 25 percent of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency, while 15 to 20 percent report they bully others with some frequency; and

WHEREAS, both students who bully and students who are bullied are more likely to skip school and drop out of school; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Education be requested to study the nature and effectiveness of local school divisions' antibullying policies.

In conducting its study, the Department of Education shall (i) review and compare antibullying measures in the student codes of conduct from each school division, (ii) compare existing policies with the Department's model policy for codes of student conduct, and (iii) determine if improvements to existing policies are warranted, in order to more effectively combat bullying in Virginia's public schools.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Department for this study, upon request.

The Department of Education shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2011, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2012 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.