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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNon-Discrimination Public Comment from Sandra Smiley, second 4-28-14From:sandrasmiley@earthlink.net To:Carson Taylor; Chris Mehl; Cyndy Andrus; I-Ho Pomeroy; Jeff Krauss Cc:Stacy Ulmen; Aimee Brunckhorst; Chris Kukulski; Chuck Winn; Greg Sullivan Subject:Legislation information regarding Safe Place to Learn which applies to the legislation you are considering forprotection of Sexually Different People Date:Monday, April 28, 2014 8:59:34 AM Dear City Commission and City Staff: The following is legislation enacted in California that could be helpful to you with thediscrimination problems towards people who are different than others in thecommunity of Bozeman. My 40 years of working as a social worker and teacher ofrelationship skills and being on the Bozeman City Commission and more have shownme that there is a need for you to step up now and legislate better behavior in thecommunity towards people who are different. Just think - someday when allhumans get along and are respectful of each other and their differences from eachother - then there will be no need for this type of legislation. Step up and protectthose who need it now....it's needed. Sandra Smiley, Former City Commissioner. "Where's the love? You are the love you have been waiting for - be love, beloving." Anonymous"Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don't have tohave a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verbagree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."There's always something new to love." Sharon O'Hara"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Mark Twain"When you get mired in the monotony of your everyday existence, remember;a smile can bring the sun, a loving word can move mountains and an act ofkindness can change someone’s world." ~ Creator"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, buton building the new." Socrates http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB840 SB-840 Educational equity: local educational agency policies against bullying.(2013-2014) AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 27, 2014 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2013–2014 REGULAR SESSION SENATE BILL No. 840 Introduced by Senator Lara(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Mullin)(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Block, Hueso, Leno, Mitchell, Torres, Wright,and Yee) January 07, 2014 An act to amend Section 234 of, and to add Section 234.6 to, the Education Code, relating toeducational equity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 840, as amended, Lara. Educational equity: local educational agency policiesagainst bullying. Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the State Department of Educationto assess whether local educational agencies have taken certain actions related toeducational equity, including adopting a policy that prohibits discrimination,harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on specified characteristics such asdisability, gender, gender identity, race, or sexual orientation, or association with aperson or group with one or more of the specified characteristics and adopting aprocess for receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination, harassment,intimidation, and bullying based on the specified characteristics. Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985 (the act),requires certain schoolsite councils to develop a comprehensive school safety planrelevant to the needs and resources of that particular school. The act requires thecomprehensive school safety plan to identify appropriate strategies and programsthat will provide or maintain a high level of school safety, including the developmentof a discrimination and harassment policy consistent with the Safe Place to LearnAct. The act also requires each school to forward its comprehensive school safetyplan to the school district or county office of education for approval. This bill would require each local educational agency to develop and implement apolicy against bullying, as specified, which includes, at a minimum, a procedure forreferring victims of bullying to counseling, mental health, or other health services asappropriate, appropriate; mandatory training for certificated employees on theprevention, and addressing, of bullying, bullying; and a procedure for thedocumentation of all incidents of bullying that take place within the local educationalagency as well as the responsive actions taken, if any. The bill would require thelocal educational agency to forward report the documentation of the bullyingincidents to the department, as provided. By requiring local educational agencies to develop and implement a bullying policyand to report certain information to the departments department, this bill wouldincrease the duties of local school officials and thereby impose a state-mandatedlocal program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and schooldistricts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establishprocedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall bemade pursuant to these statutory provisions. Digest Key Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal Committee: yes Local Program: yes Bill Text THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 234 of the Education Code is amended to read: 234. (a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Safe Place to Learn Act. (b) It is the policy of the State of California to ensure that all local educationalagencies continue to work to reduce discrimination, harassment, violence,intimidation, and bullying. It is further the policy of the state to improve pupil safetyat schools and the connections between pupils and supportive adults, schools, andcommunities. (c) The Legislature finds and declares that any form, type, or level of bullying isunacceptable and every incident needs to be taken seriously by local educationalagency administrators and staff, and by pupils and their families. SEC. 2. Section 234.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 234.6. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, each local educational agency shall develop,in collaboration with interested stakeholders, and implement a policy againstbullying. Collaborating stakeholders shall include, but be not not be limited to, schooladministrators and staff, pupils and their families, and the community. The policyshall include, at a minimum, all of the following: (a) (1) A procedure for referring victims of bullying to counseling, mental health, orother health services, as appropriate. (b) (2) Mandatory training for certificated employees on the prevention of, and how toaddress, bullying. (c) (3) A procedure for the documentation of all incidents of bullying that take placewithin the local educational agency and the responsive actions taken, if any.Incidents documented shall not be limited to incidents that resulted in suspension or expulsion. The (b) The local educational agency shall report this information the documentation ofall incidents of bullying pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) to thedepartment in a manner to be determined by the department. This documentationto the department shall not include personally identifiable, individual pupilinformation but shall be aggregated at the school district level. SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districtsfor those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500)of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.