| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to bullying or harassment; amending s. |
| 3 | 1006.147, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education to |
| 4 | create a stand-alone model policy designed to protect |
| 5 | students from bullying and harassment; providing criteria; |
| 6 | requiring that each public K-12 educational institution |
| 7 | designate a school employee as counselor for any student |
| 8 | suffering from bullying or harassment; requiring the |
| 9 | Department of Education to approve and produce training |
| 10 | materials; requiring the department to provide the |
| 11 | materials at no cost to public K-12 educational |
| 12 | institutions; providing an effective date. |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Section 1. Present subsections (8), (9), and (10) of |
| 17 | section 1006.147, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as |
| 18 | subsections (11), (12), and (13), respectively, and new |
| 19 | subsections (8), (9), and (10) are added to that section, to |
| 20 | read: |
| 21 | 1006.147 Bullying and harassment prohibited.- |
| 22 | (8) The department shall create a stand-alone model policy |
| 23 | designed to protect students from bullying or harassment. The |
| 24 | model policy shall include: |
| 25 | (a) A curriculum for pre-K through 12; |
| 26 | (b) Instruction on awareness for parents and all school |
| 27 | staff; |
| 28 | (c) Investigation and resolution by the school |
| 29 | administration or their designee of bullying or harassment that |
| 30 | occurs off school grounds using nonschool technology, but has |
| 31 | such negative impact on the school environment as to create a |
| 32 | safety risk between students in conflict; |
| 33 | (d) The prominent display of posters at schools and |
| 34 | advertisements on school and district websites of the importance |
| 35 | of Internet safety and how to report bullying and harassment; |
| 36 | and |
| 37 | (e) A procedure for immediate notification to parents of |
| 38 | the consequences of bullying and harassment and the availability |
| 39 | of counseling resources. |
| 40 | (9) Each public K-12 educational institution shall |
| 41 | designate a school employee to serve as a counselor for any |
| 42 | student suffering from bullying or harassment. |
| 43 | (10) The department shall approve and produce materials |
| 44 | that are used to train designated school employees as counselors |
| 45 | for students suffering from bullying or harassment. The |
| 46 | department shall provide the materials to each public K-12 |
| 47 | educational institution at no cost. |
| 48 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |