PrintOther children or school staff members should not bully your child. The school must make sure that your child is safe and comfortable so that they can learn.
Report the bullying to the school principal. Some schools have a special staff member to whom you can report bullying.
Teachers and school staff must be trained to respond to bullying.
Your child’s school must take steps to protect your child. And the school must tell you what they are doing to stop the bullying.
Every public school in Massachusetts must have a bullying prevention plan. Find the plan on the school district’s website, or ask a school administrator for a copy of the plan. This plan must:
- define bullying;
- explain procedures to report bullying, and how it can be done anonymously.
- explain how the school responds to reports of bullying.
- Describes procedures to notify the parents of both the victim and the child who bullies.
- explain how the school investigates reports of bullying.
- Explain how the school plans to protect students who report bullying.
- Describe the ways the school may discipline children who bully. And,
- Explains that they provide counseling or referrals for victims and children who bully them.
If your child has an IEP, every year, the IEP team must consider bullying when they write the IEP. The IEP must lay out ways to teach your child the skills they need to avoid and respond to bullying, if:
- Your child’s disability affects their social skills, or
- They have a disability that makes them likely to be bullied, harassed or teased, or to bully others, or
- Your child is on the autism spectrum.
If your child is a bully because of their disability, their IEP should include goals and objectives to end the bullying.
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