A survey and analysis of student bullying policies and regulations adopted by the governing boards of selected Los Angeles County school districts

Peer bullying has become an increasingly serious problem on K-12 school campuses. Bullying has been linked to increased drop-out rates; social, emotional problems such as post traumatic stress disorder symptoms for both the victims and bystanders, academic problems; teachers having to spend more time on disciplining students than instructing them. Presently the prevention of on-campus violence is a leading priority for many public school systems in the United States. The No Child Left Behind initiative has a Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) component which authorized a variety of activities designed to prevent school violence. This study analyzed the student bullying policies and regulations adopted by the governing boards of selected Los Angeles County K-12 school districts. These policies and regulations were compared to the State of California's Model Policy, resulting in recommendations and suggestions for a model board-adopted policy on student bullying. The population studied were all 80 of the K-12 school districts within the County of Los Angeles. Findings include the following: (1) Three of the 45 K-12 unified school districts surveyed have specific board-adopted student bullying policies, but all had some type of policy related to bullying; 31 of the districts subscribed to Governance and Management Using Technology (GAMUT(TM)) online. (2) Most of the student bullying policies and regulations had several elements in common with the State of California's model policy. (3) Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) aligns the most closely to the California model policy; LAUSD policy contains 11 of 12 elements in the model policy. (4) All of the elements of the California State model policy were found in one or more of the districts' policies. (5) Some districts' policies contained unique elements not found in the California model policy. (6) In the 37 K-12 governing board policies reviewed, there were no apparent conflicts with the California model policy.;The researcher concluded that some of the districts think they have sufficiently addressed the need for a bullying policy, although their policies are not aligned with the California model policy, and recommended unifying the district policies throughout Los Angeles county.