Dear SJSD Board Members,
Substantial revisions to RSMO 160.775 (Schools Required to Have Antibullying Policy) were signed by the Governor June 3, 2016. They went into full effect January 1, 2017. SJSD board policy JFCF (“Bullying and Hazing”) was last updated in 2010 and is not in compliance. It does not appear to have even been formally reviewed in the last six and a half years. Current student handbooks are not in compliance. The District response to new laws is well summarized in the KQ2 headline (“New State Bullying Law Will Not Change How SJSD Handles Incidents”) from January 18, 2017.
The required changes in RSMO 160.775 are substantial and intended to protect our children. They were required to be in place and fully implemented by January 1, 2017 and the District had six months to prepare. Additional changes that take effect over the next 18 months are designed to reduce suicides (RSMO 170.048 by July 1, 2018) and mandate additional staff training (RSMO 170.047 beginning in the 2017-18 school year).
By the admission of School District attorney Brian Bear with Spencer Fane the SJSD is not in compliance with this state statute. In one message to me he indicates “The district is in the process of adopting a new written policy to conform to recently revised Sec. 160.775. The District relies on MSBA for model policies, and those model policies then go through a standard review process before their presentation to the full Board. But as noted previously, even though this policy is not yet formally in place…” In another email he indicates “The District is in the process of revising its anti-bullying policies to comply with the recent revisions to Sec. 160.775, and those policy revisions are typically followed by training to District staff on compliance with those policies.” Despite my Sunshine Law request no evidence of that “process” has been forthcoming.
The Board has the obligation under RSMO 162.091 to ensure the district complies with all Federal and State laws. Complying with a statute passed last summer is not something that should be “in progress” well into the year in which it took effect or referred to as “recent” by the Board attorney. RSMO 162.091 provides “Any … school board member, officer or employee… who willfully neglects or refuses to perform any duty imposed upon him by chapters 160 to 168, 170, 171, 177 and 178, or who willfully violates any provision of these chapters, is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year.”
The SJSD is knowingly in violation of state law. You have each willfully neglected or refused to perform duties imposed on you by Chapter 160.
The Board needs to deal with it fully and transparently in open session at the very next board meeting. A public apology should be issued to all parents in the district for this violation which endangers their children and immediate actions should be taken in all schools to not only change the policy but to change the culture among teachers, administrators, students, and parents.
Perhaps if the administration and board had been focused on their legal responsibilities instead of surveys about how to ask for money our students would be protected as the law requires.
Brian Cronk, PhD
Parent, Educator, Voter, Taxpayer, and Advocate for Children
I am attaching a copy of HB1583 as Truly Agreed, Passed, and Signed by the Governor. It shows in bold the substantial changes to 160.775, and the new 170.048 and 170.047 which are not yet in full effect.