DOVER, Del. (AP) - The state House has passed a bill expanding the reporting requirements for incidents of school bullying.
The bill was approved unanimously Thursday and now goes to the Senate.
Under existing law, school districts must report substantiated cases of bullying to the state Department of Education within five business days. The bill requires that all reported incidents of bullying, regardless of whether they are substantiated by local school officials, must be reported to the DOE. The DOE, in turn,would issue an annual report on all reported and substantiated incidences of bullying.
An amendment approved Thursday requires that school officials investigating a reported bullying determine whether a person's race, age, marital status, creed, religion, color, sex, disability,sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or national origin was a factor.
