Critics say proposed CCSD bullying policy changes fall short

It took a 13-year-old student’s suicide and almost a year, but Clark County School District officials presented new anti-bullying policies Thursday to fall in line with state laws requiring that principals immediately investigate bullying reports and notify parents.

But Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, creator of the bill that made these laws, said Thursday that the district’s proposed policies still fall short.

The new policies — presented to the School Board on Thursday for final approval at a later date — require principals to provide written notice of a reported bullying incident to children’s parents and to investigate. However, it says principals have three days before notifying parents.

“It has to be reported to the parents immediately,” said Parks in reference to the legislative intent, noting that a “whole lot of things can happen in three days.”

Parks said as much to Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky in an Oct. 16 meeting with Jason Lamberth, father of the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide in December 2013. Lamberth was present at the meeting to review the proposed changes but said Thursday that nothing had really changed.

School district attorney Carlos McDade said Thursday that state law doesn’t require notification to be given in a certain number of days. Board member Deanna Wright said the three-day period is appropriate.

“Doing something immediately is absolutely paramount,” retorted Parks, reiterating the need for immediate parent notification.

Board member Carolyn Edwards said the three-day provision may need to be rethought before the new policies are adopted.

Clark County School District policies became a heated matter after the suicide of Hailee Lamberth, who blamed a White Middle School bully in her farewell note.

Hailee wrote: “Please tell my school that I killed myself, so that the next time (name withheld) wants to call somebody (expletives), maybe they won’t,” said Lamberth, reading his daughter’s note aloud to the Clark County School Board in February after getting little to no response from district officials for months.

Lamberth later discovered that someone at White had submitted a written report with school officials exactly three weeks before Hailee’s suicide revealing that she had been bullied. School leadership had told him in an earlier meeting that they knew of no bullying incidents.

Enraged, Lamberth said the school broke state law requiring that parents be immediately told of such reports and requiring an investigation to be completed within 10 days.

He is arguing in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the district in October that its failure to inform him of Hailee’s bullying not only broke state law but cost him the chance to prevent her suicide.

The father has been a constant presence at School Board meetings this year, reminding the district of his daughter and demanding staff members be punished for not taking bullying seriously. He is far from satisfied by Thursday’s policy changes.

White Middle School’s administrators have not been disciplined, and the policy changes make it seem like staff won’t be disciplined in the future for failing to report witnessed bullying or investigate it, as required by state laws, Lamberth said.

He referenced a passage of the revised policies that says, “Any district employee who violates bullying/cyberbullying policy shall be subject to discipline if appropriate.”

Lamberth questioned the ambiguity of the discipline passage and who would decide when discipline is “appropriate.”

“On paper, they want to make it seem good, but it won’t change a thing,” he said.

Parks said he is working on a bill for the 2015 legislative session that would mandate clear action against school staff who fail to report bullying, inform parents or investigate, as required by state law.

While he’s still working out the details, it may be similar to the state law requiring school staff to be “mandatory reporters” of suspected child abuse. The penalty for those who fail to report suspected child abuse is a misdemeanor under the first violation. Each subsequent violation is a gross misdemeanor.

Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Follow @TrevonMilliard on Twitter.