Schools' New Hate-Behavior Policy Reviewed

What happens when a tagger spray-paints religiously offensive language at  or when a Juan Cabrillo Elementary student sends racial slurs via text messages?

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District administrators' response isn't guided by any substantial policy—but that's about to change.

How to investigate the incident, whom to notify and how to punish the perpetrator are being spelled out in a new policy that the Board of Education reviewed for the first time Thursday night.

It's being drafted nearly one year after for not alerting a Samohi parent that her son, who is black, !"

Board member Oscar de la Torre called the new policy an improvement from an old version that parents said was drastically insufficient and only about one page long. (View the draft policy here; it starts on page 62).

They called for minor tweaks and said they wanted to ensure that the policy would also apply to gangs and cliques, not just individual students.

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The draft policy for "hate-motivated" behavior describes the conduct as actions or attempted actions that target a student's race, ethnicity, immigrant status, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, age, disability or cultural characteristics.

It calls on the school principal to investigate complaints, formal or informal, by interviewing the alleged victim, the accused and any witnesses; determining the impact on the victim and members of any group of which he or she is a member; and the context in which the incident occurred. (Neither the person who complained nor the victim would be required or asked to meet with the alleged harasser).

When the investigation confirms that the incident happened, administrators will notify the parents, and a report will be turned over to the district's director of student services. In some cases, law enforcement will be notified, too.

As for punishment, the policy calls for the following: counseling, community service, suspension, expulsion, transfer and/or dismissal from extracurricular activities.

The victim is supposed to be supported, too.

"The principal or designee will make it clear to the affected student(s) and the parents/guardians that any form of retaliation or mistreatment of a student who complained will not be tolerated," the draft policy states.

If a student was subjected to hate-motivated behavior by a district employee or volunteer, the district will offer, and upon the request of the parent, help the student in receiving counseling intervention support.

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