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School committee approves updated bullying prevention and intervention plan
Summary
After a multi-stakeholder review the committee voted unanimously to adopt an updated Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan that removes harassment language from the bullying form and clarifies appendices and reporting procedures.
The Canton School Committee voted unanimously on April 10 to adopt a revised Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan (BPIP) that the district’s administration and legal advisers updated over the last several months.
Assistant Principal Adam Hughes and Michelle Shaw (district staff) presented the plan update, describing a reconstituted review committee that included assistant principals, the school resource officer, the district’s digital learning coordinator and the district’s health teacher who attended Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) training. The presenters said the revised plan aligns district practice with guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and clarifies distinct processes for bullying and for legally separate harassment investigations.
Key changes presented - Removal of the word “harassment” from the BPIP appendices and reporting forms so bullying and harassment (including Title VI or other civil-rights-based allegations) follow separate procedures. Staff and administrators will notify the district Title VI/Title IX coordinator if a report meets the standard for a civil-rights investigation. - Streamlined appendices: the district kept an online/paper reporting form (Appendix A) and an administrator investigation form (Appendix B) and removed a separate “menu” of consequences (former Appendix C) to reduce confusion; appeals language was clarified to refer families to DESE’s PRS process rather than an internal “appeal.” - Changes to training language to preserve MARC training concepts (such as imbalance of power) as red-flag guidance for staff while removing legally binding wording from official forms.
After the presentation, the committee asked about locating harassment definitions and policy references for the public; district staff indicated the student handbook appendices and school policy pages contain harassment definitions and that the policy manual will be posted online. Following discussion, the committee moved to adopt the plan and approved it by roll call.
The updated BPIP will be implemented in district schools with training for building administrators and staff, and district officials said DESE’s safe and supportive schools specialist has expressed interest in using Canton’s committee-based review process as a model for other districts.
The motion to approve the plan passed on a unanimous roll call vote.
