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Arriaga files bill to create anti-bullying officer pilot, require quarterly school reporting
Summary
Rep. Shirley B. Arriaga filed a bill Jan. 15, 2025, proposing amendments to Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 71, §37O to strengthen anti-bullying enforcement: quarterly reporting by principals, expanded retaliation protections, mandatory counseling, and a pilot that would place anti-bullying officers in the five schools with the most reported incidents.
Representative Shirley B. Arriaga filed legislation Jan. 15, 2025, that would require Massachusetts schools to report bullying data quarterly, expand protections and remedies for people involved in bullying incidents, and establish a pilot program assigning anti-bullying officers to the five schools reporting the most incidents.
The bill, filed as House No. 507 and presented by Representative Shirley B. Arriaga of Chicopee, amends subsection (b), (d), (f), (g), (h) and (k) of section 37O of chapter 71 of the General Laws and adds a new subsection (o). It strikes language requiring annual reporting and replaces it with a requirement that principals file quarterly bullying-incident reports to the department named in the statute. It also changes the reporting metric from “substantiated” incidents to “any” reported incidents in the quarterly report.
Under the proposed changes, retaliation would be prohibited against anyone who (i) reports an instance of bullying, (ii) provides information during a bullying investigation, (iii) witnesses or has reliable information about bullying, or (iv) provides bullying incident data in a quarterly report to the department. The bill also amends consequences and supports in the schools’ required plans to include “mandatory counseling to appropriate services for perpetrators and victims.”
The filing further specifies that each school principal or the person who holds a comparable position would be responsible for implementing the plan and filing the quarterly incident report. Several existing subsections would be amended so that instances of bullying or retaliation discovered during investigations or as part of disciplinary action are explicitly noted in the quarterly report to the department.
The new subsection (o) would create an anti-bullying officer pilot program. The department would assess schools by the quarterly incident reports and assign anti-bullying officers to the five schools “experiencing the most incidents of bullying.” The bill states anti-bullying officers’ duties at assigned schools would include responding to, investigating and reporting incidents of bullying.
Representative Mindy Domb of the 3rd Hampshire district is also listed on the petition and was added to the filing on March 4, 2025. The bill text included with the filing contains no record of committee referral, hearings, votes or enactment; it is a proposed amendment filed with the General Court.
Why this matters: moving to quarterly reporting and reporting “any” incidents could change how schools are monitored and how quickly districts and the department identify schools with higher levels of reported bullying. The pilot would direct staff resources to a small set of schools identified by those reports; the bill does not specify funding, staffing levels, or how the department will prioritize schools beyond the numerical ranking.
