Bullying

Systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees. Bullying includes instances of cyberbullying , as defined in Section 1006.147(3)(b), F.S. Bullying may include, but is not limited to, repetitive instances of teasing, social exclusion, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, harassment, public or private humiliation, or destruction of property. If the physical harm or psychological distress is not the result of systematic or chronic behavior, evaluate for Harassment.

SESIR Bullying must include 3 elements: It must be 1) repeated; 2) intentional; and 3) involve a power imbalance.

Examples

Non-Examples

Additional Guidelines

Note: Bullying is a "Violent Incident if it Results in Bodily Injury" and must be reported in the related element "Injury-Related".

If the bullying results in any of the other SESIR incidents, the incident should be coded appropriately with a Related Element coded as "Bullying-Related".

For example, if a student bullies another student and then severely beats and injures the individual at the same time, then the incident should be reported as Aggravated Battery, Bullying-Related, Injury-Related.

Note: Bullying incidents must also be reported in the related element "Bullying-Related"

Use the code for Unsubstantiated Bullying (UBL) when, after a complete investigation and follow up of a reported bullying incident, the investigator determines that there is not enough evidence to substantiate that the incident meets the criteria of a prohibited act under definition of bullying as listed in the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for all Students Act (Florida Statute 1006.147).

FAQ

Do all bullying incidents have to be reported in SESIR? We code lower-level incidents locally as “inappropriate behavior”.

Statutes

Bullying-Related Definition:

An incident is bullying related if the incident includes systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees.

If a student or other systematically and chronically inflicted physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students which may have involved teasing, social exclusion, threat, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, sexual or racial harassment, public humiliation, or destruction of property, then the incident should be reported as bullying related.

Note: If the bullying results in any other SESIR Incidents do not code the incident as Bullying. Instead, the incident should be coded appropriately with the related element coded as bullying-related.

Data Elements:

Unsubstantiated Bullying (UBL) Definition:

After a complete investigation and follow up of a reported bullying incident, the investigator determines that there is not enough evidence to substantiate that the incident meets the criteria of a prohibited act under the definition of bullying as listed in the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for all Students Act (section 1006.147, F.S.).

Additional Guidelines

This is not considered a “SESIR incident,” but the Department is required to track this data for the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education and per section 1006.147, Florida Statutes.

FAQ

Does Unsubstantiated Bullying have to be linked to a student's record? If an incident is coded as UBL, does it have to have a state-defined action attached to it?

What data elements are required for Unsubstantiated Bullying incidents? Location, context, involvement type, related elements, (the new sex, race or disability related), etc?