Greece, N.Y.—The bullying incident involving Greece school students and former bus attendant
Karen Klein late last school year gave district leaders plenty to think about leading up to the start of this academic year.
District officials say their efforts to curb bullying were well underway, but it did move to tighten policies in the wake of the Klein incident.
“This summer, our staff, including transportation employees, took part in bullying prevention trainings which included procedures for the proper and timely reporting of incidents so that effective responses can be put into place,” wrote the district in a media statement.
Aside from what was described by some involved as a refresher course in reporting bullying incidents, the district has altered its “referral process.”
Students will still notify teachers or principals about bullying incidents. Bus drivers and monitors will now complete an updated form on the type of behavior observed on school buses.
The form would go into an online database that previously held no record of transportation related incidents.
“There’s not going to be a long length of date from the time of the incident to the time the children and the parents will be notified,” said Michelle Sears, Supervisor of Bus Operations with the Greece Central Schools.
The guidelines for reporting bullying were also made clearer during summer training according to transportation administrators.
