Brighton Schools Take Steps to Change Anti-Bullying Policy

While has had an anti-bullying policy in place for some time, it lacks certain language required by the state of Michigan's new anti-bullying law, which Gov. Rick Snyder signed in December.

Brighton Schools Superintendent Greg Gray said the previous policy was great, but some of its procedural pieces did not align with the new law.

One of the changes includes having the policy annually circulated, which was not required previously. The district will meet this requirement by updating the policy on its website as well as in student handbooks.

Another addition to the policy is the assurance that confidentiality will be maintained during the investigation process.

"That's not a change in what we've done, practicewise, in the past; it just had to be spelled out now in this particular piece of legislation," Gray said.

There is also a box in the new policy that states an investigation should be completed within three school days, but Brighton Area Schools opted out of checking it. Instead the language dictates that an investigation must be completed as promptly as the circumstances permit.

"There is a number of times when you're dealing with an anti-bullying or harassment situation when it takes that long to get to the bottom of the first side of the story," Gray said. "So to tie our hands with a three-day piece would open us up to investigations that would not be as thorough as we need to be in these types of investigations. So we did not check that box."

Gray advised board members to just pass the basic language in the policy and add provisions as needed.

School board Vice President Bill Anderson said he remembers working on the original anti-bullying policy. Anderson said the school district has come a long way in that it has postings in the elementary schools defining what bullying is.

"It's a challenge every day," he said of preventing bullying.

"It's really hard to write policy on something that's not black and white," Gray said. "There's always two sides, there's always outstanding issues, and I think our principals do an outstanding job at mediating those. I don't know if you'll ever eradicate it completely, because some of it is human nature, but we've come a long ways in making every kid feel safe and secure."

The district held a public hearing on the changes to the anti-bullying policy before its meeting Monday night, but nobody attended.

The policy will come back before the Board of Education for a second reading and approval Feb. 27. Once passed, it will take effect immediately.