(refer to Board Policy 7:20)

Bullying, Intimidation, and Harassment Prohibited

No person, including a district employee or agent, or student, shall harass, intimidate, or bully a student on the basis of actual or perceived: race; color; nationality; sex; sexual orientation; gender identity; gender-related identity or expression; ancestry; age; religion; physical or mental disability; order of protection status; status of being homeless; actual or potential marital or parental status, including pregnancy; association with a person or group with one or more of the aforementioned actual or perceived characteristics; or any other distinguishing characteristic.   The district will not tolerate harassing, bullying, or intimidating conduct, whether verbal, physical, or visual, that affects tangible benefits of education, that unreasonably interferes with a student’s educational performance, or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment. Examples of prohibited conduct include name-calling, using derogatory slurs, stalking, sexual violence, causing psychological harm, threatening or causing physical harm, threatened or actual destruction of property, or wearing or possessing items depicting or implying hatred or prejudice of one of the characteristics stated above. 

Harassment/Sexual Harassment Prohibited

Sexual harassment of students is prohibited. Any person, including a district employee or agent, or student, engages in sexual harassment whenever he or she makes sexual advances, requests sexual favors, and engages in other verbal or physical conduct, including sexual violence, of a sexual or sex-based nature, imposed on the basis of sex, that:

1. Denies or limits the provision of educational aid, benefits, services, or treatment; or that makes such conduct a condition of a student's academic status; or
2. Has the purpose or effect of:
3. substantially interfering with a student's educational environment;
4. creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment;
5. depriving a student of educational aid, benefits, services, or treatment; or
6. making submission to or rejection of such conduct the basis for academic decisions affecting a student.

The terms "intimidating," "hostile," "offensive," and “bullying” include conduct that has the effect of humiliation, embarrassment, or discomfort. Examples of sexual harassment include touching, crude jokes or pictures, discussions of sexual experiences, teasing related to sexual characteristics, and spreading rumors related to a person's alleged sexual activities. The term sexual violence includes a number of different acts. Examples of sexual violence include, but are not limited to, rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual abuse or sexual coercion.

Making a Complaint

Students are encouraged to report claims or incidences of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, or any other prohibited conduct to the nondiscrimination coordinator, building principal, assistant building principal, complaint manager, or other staff member.   A student may choose to report to a person of the student's same gender.

An allegation that a student was a victim of any prohibited conduct perpetrated by School personnel, including a school vendor or volunteer, shall be processed and reviewed according to policy 5:90: Abused and Neglected Child Reporting, in addition to any response required by this policy.

Nondiscrimination Coordinator and Complaint Managers

Jessica Donato, Northbrook School District 28, 1475 Maple Ave., Northbrook, IL  60062 | 847-498-7900 | jdonato@northbrook28.net

Scott Meek, Northbrook School District 28, 1475 Maple Ave., Northbrook, IL 60062 | 847-498-7900 | smeek@northbrook28.net

Every employee has an obligation to address and/or report student harassment concerns.

The superintendent shall use reasonable measures to inform staff members and students of this policy, such as, by including it in the appropriate handbooks.

Investigation Process

Supervisors, Building Principals, or administrators who receive a report or complaint of harassment must promptly forward the report or complaint to the Nondiscrimination Coordinator or a Complaint Manager. A supervisor or administrator who fails to promptly comply may be disciplined, up to and including discharge.

Reports and complaints of harassment will be confidential to the greatest extent practicable, subject to the District’s duty to investigate and maintain an educational environment that is productive, respectful, and free of unlawful discrimination, including harassment.

The District shall investigate alleged harassment of students when the Nondiscrimination Coordinator or a Complaint Manager becomes aware of an allegation, regardless of whether a written report or complaint is filed.

Alleged Incidents of Sexual Abuse

An alleged incident of sexual abuse is an incident of sexual abuse of a child, as defined in 720 ILCS 5/11-9.1A(b), that is alleged to have been perpetrated by school personnel, including a school vendor or volunteer, that occurred: on school grounds during a school activity; or outside of school grounds or not during a school activity.

Any complaint alleging an incident of sexual abuse shall be processed and reviewed according to policy 5:90, Abused and Neglected Child Reporting, in addition to any response required by this policy.

Enforcement

Any district employee who is determined, after an investigation, to have engaged in conduct prohibited by this policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including discharge. Any district student who is determined, after an investigation, to have engaged in conduct prohibited by this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, including but not limited to, suspension and expulsion consistent with the discipline policy. Any person making a knowingly false accusation regarding prohibited conduct will likewise be subject to disciplinary action up to and including discharge, with regard to employees, or suspension and expulsion, with regard to students.