As downloaded from the Ky Legislature site in a 5 page Ms Word Document, here are the contents of HB 336, which was meant to be a revision to the current Bully Law in Kentucky.
AN ACT relating to school safety.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
âSection 1. KRS 158.148 is amended to read as follows:
(1) In cooperation with the Kentucky Education Association, the Kentucky School Boards Association, the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, the Parent-Teachers Association, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, members of the Interim Joint Committee on Education, and other interested groups, and in collaboration with the Center for School Safety, the Department of Education shall develop or update as needed and distribute to all districts by August 31 of each even-numbered year, beginning August 31, 2008:
(a) Statewide student discipline guidelines to ensure safe schools, including the definition of serious incident for the reporting purposes as identified in KRS 158.444;
(b) Recommendations designed to improve the learning environment and school climate, parental and community involvement in the schools, and student achievement; and
(c) A model policy to implement the provisions of this section and KRS 158.156, 158.444, 525.070, and 525.080.
(2) The department shall obtain statewide data on major discipline problems and reasons why students drop out of school. In addition, the department, in collaboration with the Center for School Safety, shall identify successful strategies currently being used in programs in Kentucky and in other states and shall incorporate those strategies into the statewide guidelines and the recommendations under subsection (1) of this section.
(3) Copies of the discipline guidelines shall be distributed to all school districts. The statewide guidelines shall contain broad principles and legal requirements to guide local districts in developing their own discipline code and school councils in the selection of discipline and classroom management techniques under KRS 158.154; and in the development of the district-wide safety plan.
(4) Each local board of education shall be responsible for formulating a code of acceptable behavior and discipline to apply to the students in each school operated by the board. The code shall be updated no less frequently than every two (2) years[, with the first update being completed by November 30, 2008].
(a) The superintendent, or designee, shall be responsible for overall implementation and supervision, and each school principal shall be responsible for administration and implementation within each school. Each school council shall select and implement the appropriate discipline and classroom management techniques necessary to carry out the code. The board shall establish a process for a two-way communication system for teachers and other employees to notify a principal, supervisor, or other administrator of an existing emergency.
(b) The code shall contain the type of behavior expected from each student, the consequences of failure to obey the standards, and the importance of the standards to the maintenance of a safe learning environment where orderly learning is possible and encouraged.
(c) The code shall prohibit harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyberbullying. As used in this paragraph, “harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyberbullying”:
1. Means any written, verbal, or physical act or any electronic communication that is intended to:
a. Threaten or physically harm a student or damage the student’s property;
b. Be so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it substantially interferes with a student’s educational opportunities, or creates an intimidating or threatening educational environment; or
c. Substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school; and
2. Includes any written, verbal, or physical act or electronic communication shown to be:
a. Motivated by a student’s actual or perceived race; color; religion; national origin; ancestry or ethnicity; sexual orientation; physical, mental, emotional, or learning disability; gender; gender identity and expression; or other distinguishing personal characteristic; or
b. Based on association with any person identified by a distinguishing characteristic described in subdivision a. of this subparagraph.
(d)
The code shall contain:
1. Procedures for identifying, documenting, and reporting incidents of violations of the code and incidents for which reporting is required under KRS 158.156;
2. Procedures for investigating and responding to a complaint or a report of a violation of the code or of an incident for which reporting is required under KRS 158.156, including reporting incidents to the parents, legal guardians, or other persons exercising custodial control or supervision of the students involved;
3. A strategy or method of protecting from retaliation a complainant or person reporting a violation of the code or an incident for which reporting is required under KRS 158.156;
4. A process for informing students, parents, legal guardians, or other persons exercising custodial control or supervision, and school employees of the requirements of the code and the provisions of this section and KRS 158.156, 158.444, 525.070, and 525.080, including training for school employees; and
5. Information regarding the consequences of violating the code and violations reportable under KRS 158.156 or 158.444.
(e)
[(d)] The principal of each school shall apply the code of behavior and discipline uniformly and fairly to each student at the school without partiality or discrimination.
(f)
[(e)] A copy of the code of behavior and discipline adopted by the board of education shall be posted at each school. Guidance counselors shall be provided copies for discussion with students. The code shall be referenced in all school handbooks. All school employees and parents, legal guardians, or other persons exercising custodial control or supervision shall be provided copies of the code.
section 2. krs 525.070 is amended to read as follows
(1) A person is guilty of harassment when, with intent to intimidate, harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he or she:
(a) Strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects him to physical contact;
(b) Attempts or threatens to strike, shove, kick, or otherwise subject the person to physical contact;
(c) In a public place, makes an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display, or addresses abusive language to any person present;
(d) Follows a person in or about a public place or places;
(e) Engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which alarm or seriously annoy such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose; or
(f) Being enrolled as a student in a local school district, and while on school premises, on school-sponsored transportation, or at a school-sponsored event:
1. Damages or commits a theft of the property of another student;
2. Substantially disrupts the operation of the school; or
3. Engages in harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyberbullying as defined in subsection (4)(c) of Section 1 of this Act[Creates a hostile environment by means of any gestures, written communications, oral statements, or physical acts that a reasonable person under the circumstances should know would cause another student to suffer fear of physical harm, intimidation, humiliation, or embarrassment].
(2) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, harassment is a violation.
(b) Harassment, as defined in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, is a Class B misdemeanor.
âSection 3. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit or deny the civil expression by any student of religiously based opinions on issues related to sexual orientation.