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Lebanon superintendent clarifies bullying numbers; district to report all confirmed cases going forward
Summary
Superintendent Sievers told the board the district will shift how it reports bullying and related discipline: going forward the district will confirm and report all confirmed incidents rather than only those that resulted in suspension or expulsion under prior ODE guidance.
Lebanon City Schools Superintendent Sievers presented the district’s semiannual report on harassment, intimidation and bullying at the March 17 board meeting and said the district will start confirming and reporting all confirmed cases rather than only those that resulted in suspension or expulsion under earlier guidance.
Sievers cited state Department of Education guidance that uses a narrow definition of bullying — behavior that is “sufficiently severe, persistent and pervasive” — and explained how the district’s discipline categories map to that definition. “We will continue to discipline and address those issues, but it may not be reported as bullying and it may not be labeled as bullying if it's not persistent and pervasive,” Sievers said.
He said the district currently reports state‑level bullying numbers using the older interpretation that focused on incidents resulting in suspension or expulsion. To improve transparency the district will report all confirmed cases in its public report, he said.
Sievers also described a broader category the district uses called “abuse of others,” which is a state reporting term that captures verbal, physical or emotional abuse that does not meet the statutory threshold for bullying. To illustrate the difference, Sievers said some buildings showed low counts for bullying but higher counts for abuse of others: Donovan Elementary had zero confirmed bullying incidents in the first semester but 24 abuse‑of‑others discipline incidents, while Bowman had one confirmed bullying incident and 16 abuse‑of‑others incidents. He said Barrie Intermediate recorded 79 abuse‑of‑others incidents for the semester.
The superintendent said the district reviewed board policy 55 17.01 and consulted legal counsel and concluded that the state guidance did not prohibit reporting all confirmed cases; the board will see recommended revisions to the student code of conduct this spring to standardize language across buildings.
Board members did not take immediate action at the March 17 meeting. Sievers said clarifying reporting categories is intended to allow staff to communicate more clearly with families about how incidents were handled and what follow‑up occurred.
