Report 2012-108 Recommendation 2 Responses

Report 2012-108: School Safety and Nondiscrimination Laws: Most Local Educational Agencies Do Not Evaluate the Effectiveness of Their Programs, and the State Should Exercise Stronger Leadership (Release Date: August 2013)

Recommendation #2 To: Fresno Unified School District

To ensure that it is effectively preventing and addressing incidents of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying in its schools, Fresno Unified should ensure that school sites follow the complaint procedures established in its policies.

1-Year Agency Response

Fresno Unified School Climate teams from every school site were invited to attend training sessions in Spring 2014. The training modules were designed to increase knowledge of the Safe Place to Learn Act, the School Safety and Nondiscrimination Laws Audit, and how the Universal Tier 1 school interventions support the audit findings. Attendees discussed "Seth's Law", reviewed applicable board policies and the procedures for investigating incidents of Discrimination, Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (DHIB).

The District's DHIB Student Investigation Report template and Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ) documents were completed and distributed to sites (March 2014). In August 2014, the School Desk Guide document was completed. The documents provide a summary of key elements of the California Safe Place to Learn Act, a checklist, and a report template for schools sites; ensuring adherence to DHIB policies and procedures. The District contracted with a law firm to complete an online DHIB training for staff. In Spring 2014, the District invested in additional staff to support social emotional learning in the area of school climate and bullying prevention.

The District developed an internal DHIB compliance audit process which will be used to assess school site adherence to the established DHIB complaint/investigation procedures. The ongoing audit will occur twice a year. Enhancements were made to our District wide student information system, known as Atlas. In addition to the ability to monitor incidents of DHIB; recent Atlas improvements allow the District to monitor students acts of bullying by subtype (relational, cyber, physical, verbal, and social isolation) and on the basis of sex, disability, race, color or national origin. The District is able to review site level DHIB incidents in a variety of report formats. These reports will be utilized during the District's ongoing internal DHIB audit; ensuring school site procedures are being followed.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

Fresno Unified is currently in the process of creating original online discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying (DHIB) training for district staff. Fresno Unified is also in the process of creating school site desk guide procedures for DHIB matters. The initial draft for the school desk guide procedures was created December 2013. Adjustments to the draft procedures are currently being made and will be finalized by March 2014. The school desk guide procedures is a detailed step-by-step guide based on the board policies and administrative regulations.

Fresno Unified is developing a process to assess adherence to site level complaint procedures established in the policies. The estimated timing for the development of the process is July 2014.

Fresno Unified is currently in the process of developing reports related to DHIB which will assist the district in ensuring that school site procedures are followed. The estimated timing of when DHIB reports will be created is July 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

Fresno Unified is currently in the process of assessing the viability of hiring a vendor to provide online discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying (DHIB) training to staff across the district. Fresno Unified is also in the process of creating school site desk guide procedures for DHIB matters which will be completed by December 2013. The school desk guide procedures is a detailed step by step guide based on the board policies and administrative regulations.

Fresno Unified is developing a process to assess adherence to site level complaint procedures established in the policies. The estimated timing for the development of the process is January 2014.

Fresno Unified is currently in the process of developing reports related to DHIB which will assist the district in ensuring that school site procedures are being followed. The estimated timing of when DHIB reports will be created is January 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

The district's response includes three dates for implementing the audit report recommendations, the first of which will not be completed until December 2013. Thus, its implementation of our recommendation is currently pending.

All Recommendations in 2012-108

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.