Bexley City Schools: 25 semester-1 reports, four substantiated bullying incidents

Casey Cosgray presented the district's semester-1 bullying, harassment and intimidation report and explained how incidents are routed and investigated under district policy and state law. Casey said the district uses a single online reporting system monitored 24/7 and follows up on each report.

Casey reported 22 current-year incident reports through the anonymous system (and an overall district-wide count of 25 reported incidents), and said investigators substantiated four incidents that met the statutory definition of bullying after follow-up. "So far this year, we have 25 reported cases. Four of those have been substantiated," Casey said. He described the difference between reports that meet the specific statutory criteria for bullying and other reports that fall into other conduct categories (general misconduct, Title IX, or discrimination against a protected class).

Casey emphasized the district provides supportive measures in every reported case regardless of whether an incident meets the statutory bullying definition, including counseling, parent meetings, student contracts, check-ins and restorative practices. He said administrators analyze data for hot spots and trends, and that the district's anonymous reporting system and building teams allow early intervention.

The board moved and approved the related consent items covering the bullying report. Board members asked clarifying questions about the scope and the supportive measures and Casey confirmed that interventions are applied even when the incident does not meet the statutory bullying definition.