Report 2012-108 Recommendations

To provide stronger leadership with respect to school safety and nondiscrimination laws, Education, with direction from the superintendent of public instruction, should ensure that the EO office's program instrument is updated annually to include any new requirements in state law, and also ensure that the EO office performs monitoring visits as required and with sufficient rigor to evaluate LEAs' compliance with state law.

To provide stronger leadership with respect to school safety and nondiscrimination laws, Education, with direction from the superintendent of public instruction, should prioritize the review of parent, student, guardian, or interested party appeals to ensure that the EO office follows state regulations by processing appeals more promptly, notifying LEAs of when appeals are filed, and obtaining the investigation files and other documents when reviewing complaint appeals.

To provide stronger leadership with respect to school safety and nondiscrimination laws, Education, with direction from the superintendent of public instruction, should use data from the kids survey and reported suspensions and expulsions to evaluate the levels of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying students encounter and to determine the effectiveness of its own and the LEAs' efforts, and report the results to the Legislature by August 1, 2014.

To provide stronger leadership with respect to school safety and nondiscrimination laws, Education, with direction from the superintendent of public instruction, should within the next six months and annually thereafter, update and replace the resources on its Web site to provide more relevant information on best practices, such as preventing and responding to incidents related to a protected characteristic or that occur through cyberbullying, the U.S. DOE report on state bullying legislation, and best practices in other states, such as the Massachusetts law on LEA staff training requirements.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Fresno Unified should continue its efforts to implement methods to measure the effectiveness of school safety programs at both the district and school site levels.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Fresno Unified should ensure that school sites follow the complaint procedures established in its policies.

By spring 2014 the Legislature should require Education to report to the Senate and Assembly Budget subcommittees on what actions it has taken to improve its processing of appeals, so that the Legislature can consider redirecting existing resources through the annual budget process or taking other actions necessary to ensure that the review of appeals is prioritized.

The Legislature should consider amending state law to ensure that it aligns with the key components related to school safety that the U.S. DOE has identified. Specifically, the Legislature should consider amending the Education Code to address the concerns we raised in Table 4 on page 50. If the Legislature adds training requirements to the Education Code, it should consider modeling those requirements on the provisions in Massachusetts law.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Los Angeles Unified should monitor school sites to ensure that they implement school safety programs.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Los Angeles Unified should measure the effectiveness of its school safety programs at both the district and school site levels.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Los Angeles Unified should ensure that school sites evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they choose to implement.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Los Angeles Unified should resolve complaints within 60 calendar days regardless of the complaint process selected.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Los Angeles Unified should ensure that school sites follow the complaint procedures established in its policies.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should ensure that school site staff complete the training required under its anti-bullying policy.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should continue its efforts to implement school safety programs at school sites.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should measure the effectiveness of its school safety programs at both the district and school site levels.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should ensure the impartial resolution of complaints by not assigning the investigation to site administrators or other staff specifically named in the complaint.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should notify all complainants of the right to appeal its decisions to Education.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should update its policies and procedures to calculate the state-mandated time limit for resolving complaints in accordance with state regulations.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should resolve complaints within 60 calendar days regardless of the complaint process selected.

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Sacramento City Unified should ensure that school sites follow the complaint procedures established in its policies.