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Board policy committee reviews bullying, discipline and co-curricular code; recommends few text edits
Summary
Dr. Mark Cohen, deputy superintendent, presented the policy-committee review for bullying, student discipline and the co-curricular code at the April 7, 2025, board meeting and recommended only minor text edits and stronger communication measures.
Dr. Mark Cohen, deputy superintendent, presented the annual policy-committee review at the Naperville CUSD 203 Board of Education meeting on April 7, 2025, covering Board Policy 07/1980 (preventing bullying, intimidation and harassment), Board Policy 7:190 (student discipline) and Board Policy 7:240 (co-curricular code of conduct).
On bullying, Cohen said the committee recommended a small language change to align Policy 07/1980 with the district's Title 9 grievance procedure; no substantive policy changes were recommended. Cohen reported that roughly 1 in 5 electronic bullying reports becomes a founded incident after investigation and that the high schools had six founded bullying incidents year to date.
On student discipline, committee discussion focused on data: Cohen said about two-thirds of discipline referrals relate to attendance (tardies or unexcused absences), cell-phone violations made up roughly 8 percent of referrals, 70 percent of students had no disciplinary infractions year to date, and about 20 percent had one or two infractions. The committee considered supports for students with repeated referrals but did not recommend policy changes.
On the co-curricular code, Cohen and board liaisons said the number of co-curricular code incidents rose this year after policy changes that broadened applicability; most code violations (about 90 percent) were first offenses and committee members asked for clearer, repeated communication to students and families. The only recommended policy change was to require a pre‑season review with all students participating in activities and athletics and to standardize reminders about when the code applies.
Board liaisons and staff said they would explore ways to boost parent and student awareness of the code and noted logistical limits (for example, pulling students from class during daytime meetings). The committee did not recommend further changes to the three policies at this time.
