RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 697 (SB 358) 2022 Regular Session Jackson
Prior law required the governing authority of each public elementary and secondary school
to adopt a student code of conduct that prohibited bullying. Defined bullying and provided
processes for reporting, investigating, and handling reports of bullying.
New law retains prior law and places the bullying provisions in a new section of law. Further
requires all elementary and secondary schools, including nonpublic schools, to institute a
program to prohibit and prevent bullying.
New law further requires the program to:
(1)Define bullying.
(2)Ensure each student, parent or legal guardian of a student, school administrator,
teacher, school employee, and volunteer is aware of their duties and responsibilities
relative to preventing and stopping bullying.
(3)Provide a process for reporting and investigating alleged incidents of bullying.
(4)Provide for appropriate discipline of a student found guilty of bullying.
(5)Provide for appropriate remedies for a student found to have been bullied.
(6)Provide for a process to investigate and report persons for failure to act.
New law requires BESE to adopt rules to require all approved nonpublic schools to
implement policies to prohibit bullying.
New law requires the school governing authority to investigate any report of any teacher,
counselor, bus operator, administrator, or other school employee, whether full- or part-time,
who witnesses bullying or receives a firsthand report of bullying from a student and who
fails to report such incident to the appropriate school administrator. Further requires the
governing authority to suspend the individual who failed to report an incident without pay.
Provides that the length of the suspension shall be based on the severity of the bullying
incident.
New law requires the school governing authority to investigate any report of a school
administrator or official who has failed to notify a parent or legal guardian of a report of
bullying, timely investigate a report of bullying, take prompt and appropriate disciplinary
action against a student that was determined to have engaged in bullying, or report criminal
conduct to the appropriate law enforcement official. Further requires the governing authority
to suspend the individual who failed to report an incident without pay. Provides that the
length of the suspension shall be based on the severity of the bullying incident.
New law requires the school governing authority to report each finding of a failure to report
and the length of suspension issued to each employee who failed to report to the Louisiana
Department of Education (DOE) by August 1st and for DOE to report information received
to BESE by September 1st.
Effective June 18, 2022.
(Amends R.S. 17:416(A)(1)(b)(ii) (intro para) and (c)(ii)(dd), (2)(a), and (A)(4)(intro para),
(b), and (c), 416.13, 416.20(A), and 3996(B)(32); adds R.S. 17:416.14)