FZO Chart, page-84

I'm beginning to see why we focused on West Virginia as our entry point into the United States.


https://www.robinettelaw.com/Articl...ederal-Government-about-School-Bullying.shtml

West Virginia Schools Receive Warning from Federal Government about School Bullying
It's time for West Virginia schools to live up to their legal obligations and take action to stop bullying. This was the message sent by federal education officials to the state's K-12 schools and colleges in a recent letter. A federal government survey of West Virginia high school students found that 23 percent had been the victim of bullying in the last 12 months - one of the highest percentages of high schoolers in the country.

Federal anti-discrimination laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, prohibit harassment based on race, religion, ethnicity, sex, color, national origin and disability. While federal law does not directly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, in some cases, the prohibition on discrimination based on sex will apply to the harassment of gay, lesbian and transgendered students. Like other public schools across the country, West Virginia schools are required to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws and prohibit these types of discrimination.

A 2009 sample survey found that nationally, nearly twenty percent of ninth through twelfth grade students reported being bullied on school property within the past year. While boys are more likely to be the victims of physical and verbal assaults, girls are more likely to be harassed psychologically and relationally. Younger students also are more likely to be bullied; one survey found that nearly 43 percent of sixth graders had reported being bullied by other students.

The increased attention on preventing bullying comes in the wake of multiple high profile cases in which victims of bullying committed suicide. These cases include the death of 18-year-old Rutgers student Tyler Clementi after his roommate released a video of him in an intimate situation with another male on the Internet and 15-year-old South Hadley, Massachusetts student Phoebe Prince, who took her own life after repeated bullying by classmates.

West Virginia's Anti-Bullying Laws
West Virginia adopted an anti-bullying law in 2001. The law prohibits harassment, intimidation and bullying, which is defined as "any intentional gesture, or any intentional written, verbal or physical act or threat" that a reasonable person should know will harm the student, damage his or her property or place him or her in reasonable fear of harm. The law also prohibits behavior that is "sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive in that it creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment" for the student (WVC §18-2C-2).

The law also requires each county school board to develop anti-bullying policies and to adopt procedures for students to report bullying and for the school to investigate the claims. These policies must be printed in student handbooks. The school boards also are encouraged to develop harassment educational programs for each grade level and for the teaching staff to help them recognize the behavior and understand the school's anti-bullying policy.

The anti-bullying prohibition applies to acts occurring not just on school property, but also at school-sponsored events. State law also requires teachers and other school staff who witness harassment or violence to report the acts to the school's investigator.

West Virginia's law is unique from the majority of other states' anti-bullying laws in that it focuses not just on developing procedures to investigate claims of harassment, but that it also focuses on the importance of appropriately punishing those who commit the bullying. While the school boards are given latitude to develop appropriate disciplinary action, some of the suggested punishments include warnings, suspensions, exclusion from school events and expulsion.

Understanding that students who report bullying behavior to school officials may be subjected to even worse harassment, West Virginia's anti-bullying law also directs the state's school boards to develop procedures for protecting victims of bullying.

Your Legal Options for School Administrative Law and Harassment
A national safety issue exists for all families: the protection of children at school. It is a terrifying thing for a child to get on a bus that holds other students that promise the child physical harm, and then act on it. Way too often the perpetrators of school violence and harassment are not appropriately disciplined by the school administration, and the offensive conduct is permitted to continue.
Conversely, in other instances, school and college administrations may over-penalize good students for slight infractions of school policy while turning the blind eye to other more harmful student conduct. Things get even worse for the student when the teacher is the source of the harassment or abuse.
Parents and students alike are at their wits ends on how to properly handle these situations with school authorities. The school administration and college administration have their own lawyers to counsel them -- and without a solid knowledge of the law and administrative rules, victims of school disturbances can exert but little pressure on the school or college for positive change.