Dignity for ALL Students Act

(DASA)

Carol Bush
Professional Development Specialist
Center for School Improvement and Professional
Development
Orleans/Niagara BOCES

Intended Outcomes
To develop a better understanding of the Dignity
for All Students Act and its implications for public
schools
To raise awareness and sensitivity to harassment,
bullying, and discrimination including social
patterns, trends, and specific student populations
that are targeted
To develop a better understanding of cyberbullying
and how it relates to harassment and bullying
To identify early warning signs of discrimination,
harassment, and/or bullying

What is the Dignity Act?

No student shall be
subjected to
harassment,
discrimination, or
bullying by employees
or students

No STUDENT shall be subjected to discrimination

based on their:

actual or perceived race

color
weight
national origin
ethnic group
religion
religious practice
disability
sexual orientation
gender identity, or
sex

What does this mean for public school

districts, BOCES, and charter schools?
Policies and procedures

DASA Coordinator
Reporting Incidents
Guidelines for responding
Code of conduct

Expanding students education

Expanding teachers training and certification
requirements

Policies and Procedures

School districts must create policies and
procedures for creating an environment free from
harassment, bullying, and discrimination
Establish a DASA coordinator
Establish a process for reporting incidents
Guidelines for responding
Update code of conduct to reflect new policy

DASA Coordinator
One designated coordinator per school (Know
who this person is!)
Charged with receiving reports related to
discrimination, harassment, and bullying
Trained to handle human relations in the
areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic
group, religion, religious practice, disability,
sexual orientation, gender, and sex

Reporting Incidents
Students and parents must have the opportunity to
submit oral or written reports (Know what that process
is!)
School employees who witness discrimination,
harassment, or bullying OR receive an oral or written
report of an incident must orally report that incident to
the DASA coordinator within 1 day AND provide a
written report of the incident within 2 days.
DASA coordinators will thoroughly investigate reports
and prompt action will be taken to end any confirmed
reports of discrimination, harassment, or bullying AND
prevent retaliation against the reporter
DASA coordinators will notify local law enforcement if
the incident constitutes criminal conduct

Reporting Incidents

(continued)

Principal will make regular reports to the

Superintendent regarding data and trends
around discrimination, harassment, and bullying
Superintendent will report this same information
to the Commissioner at least once per year
(VADIR)

Guidelines for Responding to

Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying
Districts must use a progressive model that
includes
Education
Discipline
Intervention
Methods must vary based on
Nature of the behavior
Developmental age of student and behavior
history

Code of Conduct
Districts must update their codes of conduct to
reflect the provisions of the Dignity Act
Code of conduct must be written in plain
language that is easily understood by students
Written or electronic copies of the code of
conduct must be distributed to school employees,
students, and parents at least once per year
Code of conduct must be posted on the districts
website

Expanding Students Education

Districts must expand student education on civility,
citizenship,
and character education.

Instruction must discourage acts of

harassment, bullying, and discrimination.
Instruction must emphasize safe, responsible use
of the internet and electronic communications.

Expanding Teachers Training

Schools must provide regular training for their
teachers that
Increases awareness and sensitivity to potential
cases of discrimination, harassment, and bullying
including targeted student populations
Focuses on social patterns and trends associated
with these acts
Assists school employees in identifying and
mitigating these acts
Enables employees to prevent and respond to these
acts
Provides specific strategies for addressing exclusion,
bias, and aggression in educational settings

What does this mean for public school

districts, BOCES, and charter schools?
Policies and procedures

DASA Coordinator
Reporting Incidents
Guidelines for responding
Code of conduct

Expanding students education

Expanding teachers training and certification
requirements

What is discrimination?
The denial of equal
treatment, admission
and/or access to programs,
facilities and services
based on the person's
actual or perceived race,
color, weight, national
origin, ethnic group,
religion, religious practice,
disability, sexual
orientation, gender
(including gender identity),
or sex.

What is harassment?
Creating a hostile environment by
Conduct, verbal threats,
intimidation or abuse that
reasonably causes or
would reasonably be
expected to cause a
student to fear for their
Conduct, verbal threats,
physical safetyOR
intimidation or abuse based

on a persons actual or
perceived race, color, weight,
national origin, ethnic group,
religion, religious practice,
disability, sexual orientation,
gender or sex.

What is Bullying?
Bullying has been
described as unwanted,
aggressive behavior that
involves a real or perceived
power imbalance. The
behavior is repeated, or
has the potential to be
repeated, over time.
United States Department of Education

Characteristics of Bullying
An imbalance of power
Intent to cause harm
Repetition

Types of Bullying
Physical bullying
Verbal bullying
Social bullying
Microaggressions

Bullying and Gender

BOYS
Verbal bullying is most
common.
Boys are more likely
than girls to bully
others.
Boys are most often
bullied by other boys.
Boys are most likely to
be physically bullied
by their peers.

GIRLS
Verbal bullying is most
common.
Girls are more likely to
use social seclusion as a
form of bullying.
Girls report being targets
of rumor-spreading and
sexual comments more
than boys
Girls report being bullied
by both boys and girls.

Myths About Bullying

Bullying is the same thing as
conflict.
Most bullying is physical (Hitting,
shoving, kicking).
Bullying is a problem mostly at
urban schools.
Bullying is more likely to happen
on the school bus than at school.
Children and youth who are
bullied will almost always tell an
adult.
Children and youth who bully are
mostly loners with few social
skills.

About the bully

Characteristics of Bullies
Have positive attitudes toward
violence
Are impulsive and have quick
tempers
Show little empathy for bullied
students
Are aggressive to adults
Are involved in other antisocial
or rule-breaking activities
Are physically stronger than
peers (boys)

What motivates bullies?

Dominating others in a negative way
Gaining satisfaction from inflicting injury and
suffering
Receiving rewards by bullying others (prestige,
attention, possessions)

Children who bully are more likely

to:

Get into frequent fights

Be injured in a fight
Steal, vandalize property
Drink alcohol, smoke
Be truant, drop out of school
Report poorer academic achievement
Perceive a negative climate at school
Carry a weapon
Be convicted of a crime

Bullying behaviors may violate civil

or criminal laws
Physical bullying - assault
Gender bullying - sexual harassment or assault,
dating abuse, domestic violence
Intimidating for gain-extortion
Rumors/Lies - defamation of character
Bullying based on race, national origin, sex, or
disability (civil rights violations)
Bullying disabled persons - disability harassment
Cyber bullying - harassment by communication;
stalking
Sexting - child pornography

About the bullied

Characteristics of Bullied
Students
Passive/Submissive
Victims

Cautious, sensitive, quiet, &

withdrawn
Anxious, insecure, have low
self-esteem
Physically weaker than peers
(boys)
Physically mature earlier (girls)
Have few friends - find it easier
to associate with adults
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, U.S

Characteristics of Bullied
Students
Provocative/BullyVictim
Share characteristics with
bullied students AND with
students who bully others
Less effective in bullying
than other children who
bully
Behave in ways that cause
irritation & attract negative
attention with peers
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, U.S

Effects of Being Bullied

Lower self-esteem
Depression & anxiety
Illness
Thoughts of suicide
Absenteeism & lowered school
achievement

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, U.S

Health Consequences of Being

Bullied
Bullied
Headache
Sleep Problems
Abdominal Pain
Feeling Tense
Anxiety
Feeling Unhappy
Moderate
Depression
Intense Depression

16%
42%
17%
20%
28%
23%
49%

Not
Bullied
6%
23%
9%
9%
10%
5%
16%

16%

2%

Fekkes et al., 2004

Bullying and Suicide

Children who are bullied are more likely to
have:
Depressive symptoms
High levels of suicidal thoughts
Attempted suicide
The more types of bullying experienced, the
higher the risk.
Children who had been bullied had higher
suicide rates than those who bullied others.
Klomek et al. (2008)
Hinduja & Patchin (2010)

Tyler Clementi: Gay Rutgers University

freshman who committed suicide after
his roommate streamed live video of a
sexual encounter between Tyler and
another man.
Jayme Rodemeyer: 14 yr old
student from Williamsville, NY.
Struggled with his sexuality. Called
Faggot, fag by other students in
the hallways. Committed suicide.

Phoebe Prince: 15 year old South Hadley Middle

School student who moved from Ireland. Called
Irish slut, Irish whore by classmates. Also was
subjected to sexual harassment. Committed suicide.

Who are the targets?

Students with disabilities
Refugee or immigrant
students
LGBTQ students
Students in foster care
Students with
incarcerated parents

Students with Disabilities

Greater risk of being teased and
physically bullied
Students with ADHD are more likely
to be bullied (and to bully others)
Children with medical conditions that effect their
appearance are more likely to be bullied
Are more worried about school safety and being
injured or harassed
SWD are 2-3x more likely to be victims of chronic
bullying

Students with Autism

Spectrum Disorders
Subjected to bullying at an alarming rate
Intentionally triggered into meltdowns or
aggressive outbursts
Since students with autism are already socially
disabled, bullying may further impair the ability
of the child to interact in a social setting
63% of ASD students have been bullied
20% of ASD students have bullied others

Refugee or Immigrant
Students

Targeted for harassment based on:

Lack of understanding of cultural
norms
Different expectations for personal
hygiene
Peer pressure around appropriate clothing
Different kinds of social boundaries
Different culturally informed gestures, body
language, and use of personal space
Reluctance to report incidents to authority (due to
nature of homeland experiences)
49% of ELLs reported being harassed for their accents
ELLs are 2x as worried about their safety at school

LGBTQ Students
At greater risk of being bullied due to negative
attitudes toward LGBTQ
84.6% were verbally harassed
40.1% were physically harassed
18.8% were physically assaulted
Gay comments
Students 45%
teachers 49%
Spaz/retard comments
Students 51%
teachers 45%
Fag/lesbo comments
Students 26%
teachers 26%

Students in Foster Care &

Students with Incarcerated Parents
Targeted for harassment based on:
Not having a family
Being just like his/her parents
Social stigmas associated with foster care and
incarceration
105,000 children in NYS have a parent in jail

Effects of Bullying on Target

Populations

Drug/alcohol abuse
Depression
Anxiety
Low self-esteem
Increased anger/aggression
Emotional Outbursts
May become bullies

A note on cyberbullying

What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is defined as
harassment or bullying that
occurs through any form of
electronic communication
(Education Law 11[8]).
This includes incidents
occurring off school property
that create or would
forseeably create a risk of
substantial disruption within
the school environment

Cyberbullying may include

Sending hurtful, rude, or mean text messages to
others
Spreading rumors or lies about others by e-mail
or on social networks
Creating websites, videos or social media profiles
that embarrass, humiliate, or make fun of others
Any other form of harassment by way of email,
instant messaging, blogs, chat rooms, pagers, cell
phones, gaming systems, tweeting, or social
media websites anything electronic.

Most Common Forms of

Cyberbullying

harassment
flaming
cyberstalking
denigration
impersonation
sexting
happy slapping
outing
trickery

How is cyberbullying
different?
Sent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a
year
Shared to a very wide audience
Sent anonymously

Effects of Cyberbullying

Use alcohol and drugs

Skip school
Experience in-person bullying
Be unwilling to attend school
Receive poor grades
Have lower self-esteem
Have more health problems

Early Warning Signs

Students being
bullied

Unexplainable injuries
Lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics, or
jewelry
Frequent headaches or stomach aches, feeling sick or
faking illness
Changes in eating habits
Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
Declining grades, loss of interest in schoolwork, or not
wanting to go to school
Sudden loss of friends or avoidance of social situations
Feelings of helplessness or decreased self esteem
Self-destructive behaviors such as running away from
home, harming themselves, or talking about suicide

Early Warning Signs

Students that bully

Get into physical or verbal fights

Have friends who bully others
Are increasingly aggressive
Get sent to the principals office or to detention
frequently
Have unexplained extra money or new
belongings
Blame others for their problems
Dont accept responsibility for their actions
Are competitive and worry about their
reputation or popularity

Intended Outcomes
To develop a better understanding of the Dignity
for All Students Act and its implications for public
schools
To raise awareness and sensitivity to harassment,
bullying, and discrimination including social
patterns, trends, and specific student populations
that are targeted
To develop a better understanding of cyberbullying
and how it relates to harassment and bullying
To identify early warning signs of discrimination,
harassment, and/or bullying

Questions?
Carol Bush
Professional Development Specialist
Center for School Improvement and Professional
Development
Orleans/Niagara BOCES
cbush@onboces.org
716-731-6800 x3755