Student services director reports 64 bullying incidents under district policy; staff outline prevention steps

Megan Bushnell, the district's student services director, told the board that the district recorded 64 bullying incidents under the LEA (district) policy this year, with two cyberbullying incidents and 21 incidents classified as discriminatory harassment.

Bushnell said that while overall office referrals have remained roughly steady, entries categorized as "minor" incidents have increased, which the district interprets as improved tracking of behavior in classrooms. "I believe that we're tracking it better overall," she told the board, noting the district is working to improve consistent entry of incidents into the Educators Handbook platform.

Bushnell reviewed steps the district plans to take next year: train staff and students on the updated bullying policy and harassment reporting, teach the district's social-emotional learning curriculum (7 Mindsets) with fidelity K'through'12, target prevention and awareness at schools with higher incident rates, implement restorative practices and follow up with affected students, and implement a contact-consultant plan (CCP) to coordinate district response across principals and counselors.

Board members discussed the Dignity Conference hosted by Davis School District and said lessons learned there informed the CCP approach. Bushnell and board members said some safe-school referrals (for example, THC vaping and distribution) still come to the district level and that those reporting practices may be refined.

Why it matters: The district described an intent to improve incident-tracking and to coordinate interventions more consistently across schools; staff tied improved data entry to better pattern detection and earlier intervention.