When your child is the victim of bullying, the experience can be traumatic and painful and have a long-lasting impact on the young person. Schools are expected to prohibit bullying within their premises, on school grounds, online, and in many situations, beyond school boundaries. Schools in Delaware are required to have policies in place to prevent bullying, punish the behavior, and take steps to ensure that it never happens again.
In fact, Delaware's elementary and secondary schools, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, have a legal responsibility to students and their parents or guardians to prevent bullying. Delaware's Department of Education encourages a positive learning environment for students that includes respectful behavior, good citizenship, and consideration of one another.
However, in spite of laws, policies, and procedures, in many cases, the efforts of the school district and charter community fail.
Students who are victims of bullying have rights. And at the Lento Law Firm, we are committed to protecting those rights. If your Delaware K-12 student is a victim of bullying, the Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team can help. We fight for the rights of students in Delaware. Call us at (888) 535-3686 or contact us online to learn how we can help.
Bullying in Delaware K-12 Schools
Bullying is prevalent throughout the United States, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On a national scale, approximately 20% of high school students indicate experiencing bullying on school property. Last year, more than 15% of high school students reported being bullied electronically. Nearly 14% of public schools report that bullying is a discipline problem that occurs daily or at least once a week.
School districts and charter schools in Delaware must operate within state guidelines for school conduct and discipline that are established by the Delaware Board of Education, the Delaware State Legislature, and district and charter school boards.In Delaware, education operates under local control, so decisions pertaining to student conduct and disciplinary policies are made at the school, district, and charter school levels. The Delaware Department of Education does not have the legal authority to override decisions made by public schools, districts, and charter schools related to individual student conduct and related disciplinary actions.
Delaware Bullying Prevention Laws
Delaware laws prohibit elementary and secondary school bullying. Delaware's school bullying prevention law requires that districts and charter schools have a procedure in place for students and parents or guardians to report bullying to school officials.
Under Section 4164 of Title 14, Chapter 41, the Delaware Department of Justice and the Department of Education, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, the Delaware State Education Association, the Delaware School Boards Association, and the Delaware Association of School Administrators, must identify and maintain a school bullying prevention and criminal youth gang detection training program for school district and charter school employees. In prohibiting bullying, each school district and charter school must prohibit bullying and reprisal, retaliation, or false accusation against a target, witness, or one with reliable information about an act of bullying.
Delaware's Definition of Bullying
Under Title 14, Chapter 41 of Delaware's Education Code, Delaware's School Discipline Laws and Regulations regarding bullying, harassment, or hazing, bullying is defined as “any intentional written, electronic, verbal, or physical act against another student” that a “reasonable person under the circumstances” should know will have any number of effects, which include any of the following:
- Placing the student in “reasonable fear of substantial harm” to the student's “emotional or physical well-being” or “substantial damages” to the student's property
- Creating a “hostile, threatening, humiliating, or abusive” educational environment
- Interfering with the student having a safe school environment, which is necessary to foster educational opportunities, performance, or benefits
- Sustaining bullying behavior by “inciting, soliciting, or coercing” either an individual or a group with the purpose of embarrassing, dehumanizing, or demeaning, or to cause the individual or group physiological, emotional, or physical harm
The definition of bullying, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, is “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” An imbalance of power is demonstrated when children who bully use their power—such as popularity, physical strength, or access to embarrassing information—to control or harm others. These power imbalances may change over time and may vary depending on the situation, even if they involve the same people.
Bullying is aggressive behavior, and the bullying involves repetition occurring over and over again or having the potential to happen again over time. Examples of bullying include:
- Making threats
- Spreading rumors about someone
- Attacking someone verbally: teasing, taunting, name-calling, making inappropriate sexual remarks, threatening physical harm
- Physically attacking someone: spitting, hitting, kicking, pinching, pushing, tripping
- Taking or breaking someone's things
- Making rude or mean hand gestures
- Intentionally excluding someone from a group
- Hurting someone's reputation or relationships
- Embarrassing someone in public
- Discouraging other children from befriending the victim
Delaware Anti-Bullying Policies
Each school district and charter school in Delaware, from kindergarten through grade 12, must establish a policy that, at a minimum, includes the following components:
a) A statement that prohibits the bullying of any individual on school grounds or during school events by using either data, computer software accessed via a computer, a computer system, a computer network, or other electronic technology belonging to a school district or charter school
b) A definition of bullying that is no less inclusive than Delaware's definition of bullying as stated in Title 14
c) Steps for the creation of a comprehensive school-wide program for the prevention of bullying
d) Establishment of a site-based committee that will have responsibility for coordinating, designing, approving, and monitoring the school's bully prevention program
e) Any employee of the school district or charter school that has reliable information that an individual is a target of bullying is required to immediately report it to the school administration
f) Establishment of a procedure for the school administration to promptly investigate any claim of bullying in a timely manner and determine whether bullying has occurred. This includes determining whether the target of bullying was targeted wholly or in part due to their race, religion, color, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, creed, or marital status. Schools may also identify other reasons or criteria as to why a person is a target of bullying
g) Each school, to the extent that funding is available, is required to develop a plan for a system of supervision in non-classroom areas
h) Specifying appropriate consequences for bullying behavior
i) Steps for a student or a parent to take to provide information to the school about incidents of bullying
j) Any bullying victim's parent or the parent of the perpetrator of the bullying must be notified of the bullying incident. These parents must also be given a form from the Delaware Department of Justice that describes the role of the Delaware Department of Justice School Ombudsman in this process. The parents must also be given the necessary contact information and must be informed of their right to know when the alleged bullying incident was reported to the Department of Education
k) All reported incidents of bullying, regardless of whether the school was able to substantiate the incident, are required to be reported to the Department of Education within five working days under Department of Education regulations. The school must notify the parent of every student involved in the reported bullying incident at the time that the report is made.
l) Rules prohibiting any retaliation against an individual who reports an incident of bullying
m) There must be approved methods for the medical professionals who are involved in a student's treatment for bullying issues to communicate with school staff members
n) School bullying prevention programs are to be incorporated into the school's discipline policies and implemented throughout the year
Delaware's Laws Regarding Cyberbullying
Delaware's cyberbullying regulation allows Delaware schools to address electronic bullying, both on and off-campus, that is likely to limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit from the educational programs of the school.
In Delaware, cyberbullying is defined as “the use of uninvited and unwelcome electronic communication directed at an identifiable student or group of students” through a method other than face-to-face interaction. The communication is considered to be directed at an identifiable student or group of students if the communication is sent directly to that student or group or is posted in a medium that the individual knows is likely to be available to a broad audience within the school community. Even if postings originate off-campus, such postings are prohibited under the state's uniform cyberbullying policy.
Postings on Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, MySpace, and social media sites or forums similar to those platforms are assumed to be accessible to a wide audience within the school community, irrespective of any privacy settings or other restrictions on those posts.
Under the state's uniform cyberbullying policy, such postings either:
- interfere with a student's physical well-being; or
- are threatening or intimidating; or
- are so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it is reasonably likely to limit a student's ability to participate in or benefit from the educational programs of the school district or charter school
The determination as to whether speech constitutes cyberbullying will be determined based on the standpoint of a reasonable student who shares the same grade and other circumstances as the victim.
Procedures for Reporting Bullying to Delaware School Officials
Delaware's school bullying prevention law requires that districts and charter schools establish a process for students and parents/guardians to report bullying to school officials. This process must be clearly outlined in the district or charter's bullying prevention policy. Furthermore, the regulation on cyberbullying empowers schools to address electronic bullying, whether occurring on or off-campus, if it is reasonably likely to impede a student's ability to engage in or derive benefits from the educational programs of the school.
When reporting a bullying incident, it is important to:
- Adhere to the outlined procedure of the district or charter school as specified in their anti-bullying policy
- Submit the report in writing and retain a personal copy for your records
- Ensure that the report includes comprehensive details such as dates, times, locations, alleged offender(s), and witnesses
- When possible, incorporate any evidence that goes beyond the perspective of the alleged victim
- Clearly articulate the connection between the alleged bullying and the state's definition of bullying
- Describe how the bullying is impacting the student within the school environment
- State what you expect as a reasonable timeline for the school's response
- Maintain a positive tone throughout the report
Delaware Personal Injury Laws Protecting Bullying Victims
In spite of policies, procedures, and state regulations, sometimes a school district or charter school fails to adequately address an instance of bullying. When this occurs, the parent/guardian may pursue a claim against the school district. To do this, you must show that the school failed to take appropriate steps in response to the bullying or failed to take action to prevent the bullying behavior. If, as a result of this negligence on the part of the school district, the child who experienced the bullying was injured physically or emotionally, then the student's parents or legal guardians can sue the school district for the injuries and losses that were sustained as a result of the school's negligence in preventing the bullying or their failure to take the necessary steps in response to the bullying.
Some examples of school negligence in handling an incident of bullying include any of the following and more:
- Failure to develop and adopt a school district or charter school policy against bullying
- Failure to implement established protocols for preventing bullying
- Failure to enforce the school's anti-bullying policy
- Failure to take immediate action to intervene to stop bullying
- Failure to protect bullying victims from further acts of bullying behavior
- Failure to take appropriate action in accordance with school procedure for reporting an incidence of bullying
- Failure to monitor school grounds, classrooms, playgrounds, and common areas for evidence of bullying
- Failure to thoroughly investigate complaints of bullying
- Failure to prevent retaliation against the victim for filing a complaint of bullying
Negligence is at the center of any personal injury claim stemming from bullying at a public or charter school in Delaware. If a teacher or school official was involved in the bullying themselves, then your student may have a claim of assault, inflicting emotional distress, battery, or defamation.
Filing a personal injury claim against a school for bullying is a complicated process; let our experienced Education Law Team examine every facet of the bullying incident to identify the particular actions that substantiate the bullying allegation.
Delaware Mandatory Non-Academic Training for Child Safety Awareness and Prevention
Delaware Education Code Title 14, Chapter 41, Section 4162 calls for mandatory safety training for employees of each school district and charter school, which includes 12.5 hours of training every 3 years. Of this safety training, three hours must be devoted to training in school bullying prevention and criminalyouth gang detection .
Delaware Immunity from Reporting Bullying
Under Delaware Title 14, Chapter 41 Section 4164, an employee, volunteer, or student of a Delaware school district or charter school is “individually immune from a cause of action for damages arising from reporting bullying in good faith and to the appropriate person using the procedures specified in the school district's or charter school's bullying prevention policy, but there is no such immunity if the act of reporting constituted gross negligence or reckless, willful, or intentional conduct.”
Delaware School Districts and Charter Schools May Expel or Suspend Students
In Delaware, public school districts and charter schools have the authority to suspend or expel a student if the student violates school rules or policies. However, schools are not permitted to remove students from regular school programs without due process. Students and their families have the right to challenge school suspension or expulsion decisions.
When bullying occurs, it is not uncommon for the victim of the bullying to fight back against the bully. This retaliatory behavior may violate school policies, resulting in the bullying victim being suspended or expelled. These cases require special attention as the victim's behavior is the direct result of being bullied in the first place. The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team fights for the rights and protections of bullying victims at every stage of the process.
Delaware Processes for Filing Appeal of Suspension or Expulsion
In Delaware, the processes for filing an internal appeal or grievance offer differ from one district to the next. However, these processes must be set forth in the school's student code of conduct manual and, at a minimum, must include the following:
- A description of basic due process and rights to appeal
- Steps for the student or the student's parent (or both) to file an appeal or grievance
- At each step of the process, the position of the school or district staff member who will address the appeal or grievance must be identified, and the identity of the final decision-maker must also be shared
- The appeal or grievance must be made in writing
- The appeal or grievance must specify what decision is being appealed or grieved and why
- The appeal or grievance must be filed within three school days of the action being appealed or grieved
- At every stage of the process, the appeal or grievance must be addressed during a conference with the student and his/her parents by the school within five school days of the school's receipt of the appeal or grievance
- A written determination must be issued within five school days of the conference with the student, parent, and the school
Federal Laws May Apply In Some Bullying Cases
The United States does not have a federal law that specifically applies to bullying. But when the bullying behavior is based on the victim's race, religion, ethnicity, color, sex, national origin, or disability, federal laws that protect against harassment apply. And in these cases, public and charter schools are legally obligated to address the behavior. When the situation is not adequately resolved, the student and their parents may consider filing a formal grievance with the school district or charter school.
Skilled Representation for Delaware Bullying Victims
Bullying victims have rights. When those rights are violated, and a school district or charter school fails to protect the student from bullying behavior, we can help. The Lento Law Firm's skilled Education Law Team is available to represent your Delaware elementary or secondary school students, protecting their rights and aggressively advocating on their behalf. The Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team has helped hundreds of students across the country on a broad range of issues, including bullying, harassment, hazing, and other harms. Contact us today or call the Lento Law Firm at 888-535-3686.
