District 49 board amends bullying-prevention policy language and debates role of restorative practices
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Summary
Board worked through line-by-line revisions to policy JICDE (bullying prevention), agreeing to rename the policy to align with state guidance, add parental notification/invitation language, move procedural items to an administrative regulation, and to seek administrative/legal drafting for a final version while debating when and how restorative practices should be referenced.
The District 49 board spent an extended portion of the work session reviewing proposed revisions to policy JICDE (bullying prevention and restorative interventions). Director Schmidt led the presentation, explaining the changes are intended to align district policy with state guidance and to clarify when restorative interventions should be used.
Board debate focused on several core issues: the policy’s title, whether to list protected characteristics explicitly or reference policy AC, how prescriptive the policy should be versus delegating details to an administrative regulation (a dash R), parental involvement, and how to treat peer mediation. After discussion the board agreed to change the title to "Bullying Prevention and Education" to mirror state terminology and reached consensus on revised wording to "notify parents and invite their support" when students are targeted.
A major point of contention was how the district’s long-standing restorative practices should be reflected. Director Schmidt and others cautioned about using restorative approaches in some bullying contexts; Director Lavere Wright and Superintendent Hiltz pushed back, saying the district’s experience indicates restorative practices have helped reduce referrals and improve school climate. Superintendent Hiltz said restorative approaches "have been significant in improving school culture and reducing exclusionary discipline and even incidences of of pure violence." He also said the district maintains a 23-page restorative/discipline matrix and agreed to share it with board members for review.
Board members directed staff to draft a revised policy and a companion administrative regulation that would contain procedural and implementation detail (surveys, reporting flows, investigation steps, and program guidelines). The board asked counsel to check recent statutory changes and any required elements before adopting a final policy.
The process: board-level language changes were approved by consensus on many points; staff will prepare a clean redline and develop the dash R for a future action meeting.