Traverse City Area Public Schools
Bylaws & Policies
 

5517 - BULLYING, TAUNTING, STALKING, HAZING AND OTHER FORMS OF HARASSMENT, INCLUDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT ARE PROHIBITED
 

A.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
     
 

Traverse City Area Public Schools is committed to providing all students with a safe and supportive school environment. Bullying, taunting, stalking, hazing, and other forms of harassment, including sexual harassment of students by other students, or by any member of the staff are contrary to the Board of Education's commitment to provide a physically and psychologically secure environment in which to learn and may in circumstances be a violation of Federal or State Law. Bullying, taunting, stalking, hazing, and other forms of harassment including sexual harassment of students by other students or by any member of the staff are strictly forbidden. Any student or staff member found to have bullied, taunted, stalked, hazed, or harassed a student in any form will be subject to discipline in accordance with the District's policies and applicable law.
   
 

B.

PROHIBITED CONDUCT
   
 

1.

Bullying, taunting, stalking, hazing, and other forms of harassment, is the physical or verbal communication (written or oral) directed toward a student or a student's property or possessions by another student or staff member in a single incident or on repeated occasions.
     
 

2.

Bullying is the hostile, intimidating, provoking, threatening, or objectively offensive conduct which has the purpose or effect of disrupting and interfering with the ability of students to attend school or participate in school activities in an environment conducive to learning and to courteous and peaceable social interaction.
 

3.

"Garret’s Law", MCL 750.411t, prohibits a person who attends, is employed by, or is a volunteer of an educational institution from engaging in or participating in the hazing of an individual. This law applies to those attending the high schools or middle schools of the District. "Hazing" is defined as an intentional, knowing, or reckless act by a person acting alone or acting with others that is directed against an individual, and that the person knew, or should have known, endangers the physical health or safety of the individual, and that is done for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, participating in, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization. Hazing includes:
     
 

a.

Physical/brutality, such as whipping, beating, striking, branding, electronic shocking, placing a harmful substance on the body, or similar activity.
     
 

b.

Physical activity, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, or calisthenics, that subjects the other person to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the physical health or safety of the individual.
     
 

c.

Activity involving consumption of a food, liquid, alcoholic beverage, liquor, drug, or other substance that subjects the individual to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the physical health or safety of the individual.
     
 

d.

Activity that induces, causes, or requires an individual to perform a duty or task that involves the commission of a crime or an act of hazing.
     
 

Activity that is normal and customary in an athletic, physical education, military training, or similar program sanctioned by the educational institution is excluded. A student who engages in or participates in the hazing of an individual in violation of "Garret’s Law" shall be subject to discipline from the school District in addition to any criminal punishment.
   
 

4.

Sexual harassment is unwelcomed sexual advances or any form of sexual remarks or non-consensual sexual contact of a student by a student or any member of the staff.
 

5.

Other prohibited conduct constituting harassment includes conduct, physical or verbal communication (written or oral), which has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, provoking, hostile, discriminatory, or objectively offensive environment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, religion, height, weight, marital status, genetic information, or sexual orientation that disrupts or interferes with a student’s ability to attend school or participate in school activities in an environment conductive to learning and to courteous and peaceable social interaction.
     
 

C.

OTHER PROHIBITED CONDUCT
 
 

Bullying, taunting, stalking, hazing and other forms of harassment, including sexual harassment by students or staff members, fellow students, or other persons present on the school premises or at a school activity (e.g. visiting speakers, athletic team members, volunteer and/or parent) is strictly forbidden. Any student found to have harassed a staff member, student, or other person present on school premises or at a school activity, will be subject to discipline in accordance with the Code of Conduct and applicable laws.
     
 

D.

PROTECTED CONDUCT
     
 

The expressions of ideas, opinions, or beliefs in a manner that is not disruptive or harassing constitute the legitimate exercise of constitutionally protected free speech in the school setting and will not be infringed on.
   
 

E.

REPORTING PROCEDURE
     
 

All such reports are to be investigated by the principal or designee promptly. Anyone found to have violated this policy and/or the Code of Conduct shall be subject to disciplinary action up to and including suspension, expulsion, or termination.

M.C.L.A. 750.411t

Revised 7/02
Revised 8/03
Revised 11/04
Revised 4/25/11