Findings from the NYC's Department of Education's first annual audit of bias-related bullying and harassment cases in the city's public schools, released by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, reveal a high number of such incidents.
In September 2008, the department introduced Chancellor's Regulation A-832, which added mandated reporting and investigation guidelines to its anti-bias Respect for All initiative. The regulation, among the most rigorous in the country, made New York City a national leader in efforts to combat bullying and harassment based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and other characteristics.
The Department's audit found that 6,207 – or 4.7 percent – out of a total of 130,837 disciplinary incidents reported in the City's public schools during the 2008-09 school year were bias-related. Of the biases associated with these incidents, 55 percent were gender-related, 21 percent were race/color-related, and 13 percent were related to students' gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. The 2008-09 report provides baseline data against which the Department can measure future progress in preventing bias-related incidents in City schools.
"Respect for All was a big step forward in our efforts to make every school a safe learning environment where students can focus on learning and growing," Klein said. "This new data provides unprecedented information to help us track and respond to bias-related incidents and to prevent similar incidents from recurring."
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said: "Bias of any kind in our schools will not be tolerated. Armed with this new data, we'll be able to track our progress going forward and help make every school a better and safer learning environment for all of our city's students."
The Department's audit of 2008-09 Student Discipline Code data examined reported bias-related incidents across the full spectrum of infractions, ranging from Level 1 (behaviors such as being rude or disrupting class) to Level 5 (the most serious safety violations).
The audit found that the majority of reported bias-related incidents – 57.9 percent – were Level 4 incidents. Of these Level 4 incidents, 55 percent involved sexually suggestive comments or sexually suggestive behavior such as patting, pinching or indecent public conduct, while 12.7 percent involved intimidation and bullying behavior. Only 1.9 percent of all bias-related incidents were classified as Level 5, which pose the most serious risk to student safety.
A diverse group of external partners including the Anti-Defamation League, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Operation Respect, Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, and the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program worked with Department of Education staff members to develop the City's Respect for All program, which prepares school faculty members to address and prevent bullying, harassment, and intimidation of students.
The regulation requires schools to develop annual plans to convey appropriate standards of behavior to students and staff, to track and monitor all bias incidents, to investigate complaints properly, and to take follow-up steps to ensure that schools maintain safe and respectful learning environments.
Building on this commitment, this year, the Department expanded the initiative by requiring more school-based staff members to attend Respect for All trainings so they are better prepared to confront and prevent negative behaviors. Since 2007, more than 2,500 teachers, guidance counselors, and parent coordinators have been trained in Respect for All.
The Department provided principals with additional guidance in creating rigorous anti-bullying plans, and new measures will hold them accountable for enforcing those plans. For example, for the first time, efforts to combat bullying and harassment will factor into a school's Quality Review.
The [creation of the] initiative for Respect for All was, in large part, because of the efforts of the Sikh Coalition.
After a student, Harpal Singh Vacher, was attacked in 2007, the Sikh Coalition worked with a coalition of New York-based organizations to ask that the Department of Education implement a Chancellor's regulation to halt bias-based harassment in schools.
In 2008, another Sikh high school student, Jagmohan Singh Premi, was brutally attacked. Sikh Coalition staff members and the Premi family immediately met with school administrators from Richmond Hill High School in Queens. They explained the significance of the turban and the seriousness of the attack on Jagmohan. Until then, the high school had not considered the attack on Jagmohan to be "bias-based."
Two days later, the Sikh Coalition, along with hate crime victims and elected officials, confronted city administrators on their failure to protect Sikh children, outside the Department of Education building.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein made an unexpected appearance at the meet to apologize to Jagmohan on camera. Days later, a teen Sikh girl, Gurprit Kaur's hair was cut by another student and tossed into a trashcan.
On June 30, over 300 Sikhs marched through Richmond Hill to demand a new policy from the DOE. At a press conference on September 3, 2008, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Klein, along with the Sikh Coalition and other community organizations, announced the creation of the Chancellor's regulation.
