Proposed West Bend School District Harassment Policy

At tomorrow’s meeting of the West Bend School Board, they will he hearing the third reading and possibly passing a new harassment policy.  This proposed policy goes way overboard.  Here is the proposed policy:

Sorry for the images, but that’s all I have.  A policy like this is a good idea.  What constitutes harassment and what should be done about it should be defined to protect both the students and the faculty.  But this policy is way too broad and fraught with problems.  Let’s look at a couple of them.  Here is the definition of “harassment:”

Harassment means verbal or physical conduct related to an individual’s membership in a protected class (including, but not limited to: sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental status, sexual orientation or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability) that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working or learning environment or interferes with the individual’s work or learning performance.

The problem with the wording of this definition is that it completely sets the threshold for harassment into the mind of the alleged victim.  If a member of a protected class decides that he or she has been “offended” or “intimidated” then he or she - by definition - has been offended or intimidated.  If a pregnant teen feels like everyone is staring at her and that it has the “effect of creating an intimidating… learning environment” then there’s no arguing with it.  If a gay kid feels that a Christian kid saying that he thinks homosexuality is a sin is a hostile act, then it becomes fact under this definition. 

This definition allows no objective standards and moves harassment from the realm of action to the realm of the mind.  No longer must someone actually commit an act like offensive graffiti in the locker, threats, or anything else in order to be charged with harassment.  Under this policy, anything that might make a member of a protected class feel harassed can bring charges of harassment and disciplinary action. 

This problems with this definition is further aggravated by the definition of cyberbullying:

Cyberbullying encompasses any of the prohibited actions, such as bullying, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, threats, that are accomplished through electronic means.

Again, according to the proposed definition of harassment, it is in the mind of the alleged victim.  If a student writes, “I think that unmarried teenage girls who have babies should be ashamed of themselves for setting up their kids for failure,” could it be defined as harassment is a fellow unmarried pregnant student read it ant took offense (as she likely would)?  Yes, it could.  And the kid who wrote it would then be subject to discipline at school. 

The policy fails to put any regulators on its bad definition in the enforcement part of the policy.  It says, in part:

Individuals who upon investigation are determined to have engaged in harassment under the provision of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.  In the case of employees, that action may include, but is not limited to suspension, discharge or nonrenewal.  In the case of students, discipline may include, but is not limited to reprimand, suspension or expulsion.

Notice that there isn’t anything like a “reasonable person” test.  The only determination is whether or not the act occurred.  It has already been determined that it was harassment because the alleged victim is the sole determinant of whether or not he was harassed.  Once it has been determined that the act of harassment occurred, it’s right on to the punishment.  The only thing that gives the administration any leeway is the use of the word “may.”  Given the prevalence of the “rules are rules” mentality of most school administrators, does anyone care to place odds that this policy will result in ridiculous overreactions to the smallest offenses?

The West Bend School Board should send this policy back to be severely tightened up.  I encourage any of you who happen to live in the district to attend tomorrow’s meeting and voice your opinion of the policy.  We want to protect the kids and faculty from harassment and cyberbullying, but this policy goes far beyond that.  It sets up a mechanism for anyone to terrorize anyone else with accusations of harassment. 

The School Board meeting is tomorrow at 1900 at the Education Service Center.  Here’s the agenda. 

UPDATE: The Board did the right thing.  Read it here.

Posted by Owen at 1558 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin