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Bullying: What's your school district's responsibility

Do you know what your school's responsibility is when it comes to a bullying case? WTOL 11 spoke to Perrysburg School District for the answer.

PERRYSBURG, OH (WTOL) - Do you know what your school's responsibility is when it comes to a bullying case? WTOL 11 spoke to Perrysburg School District for the answer.

Brent Swartzmiller, the Perrysburg Junior High school principal, says you should expect several things.

"Investigating them thoroughly, meeting with students, communicating with the adults that are at home in charge of those students and then making the appropriate decision on what the consequences may be," said Swartzmiller.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, all districts have a legal requirement to establish a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation and bullying. In most cases, district's mirror or create very similar guidelines to the ODE's model Anti-Harassment, Anti-Intimidation and Anti-Bullying Policy.

"I would say that there's best practices, but like anything else, like your classroom teacher, or building principal, there are best practices," said Swartzmiller.

The principal says no matter what code or policy is in place, all bullying cases need attention.

"All these situations pop up. They may pop up frequently, they may pop up infrequently, but they need to be addressed, and they need to be addressed well," said Swartzmiller.

The principal also added that though the school plays a big part in how these cases are handled, they can't do anything unless everyone works together and issues with bullying are brought forward.

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