H-8279

   Amend  the amendment, H-8248, to Senate File 2347, as amended, passed, and reprinted by the Senate, as follows:
   1.  Page 1, after line 48 by inserting: 
   <___.  Page 37, after line 13 by inserting: 

<DIVISION ___
SAFE SCHOOLS PROVISIONS
   Sec. ___.  Section 256.2, Code 2014, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  2A.  “Harassment” and “bullying” mean the same as defined in section 280.28.
   Sec. ___.  NEW SECTION.  256.100  Office of support and analysis for safe schools.
   1.  Subject to an appropriation by the general assembly for purposes of this section, the office of support and analysis for safe schools is established in the department to coordinate and implement the state’s efforts to prevent and respond to harassment and bullying.
   2.  The office shall coordinate efforts between state agencies and promote research-based best practices for programming and training to improve school learning environments and school safety. The office shall coordinate with appropriate stakeholders in carrying out its duties.
   3.  The office shall:
   a.  Assist schools in the implementation of section 280.28, using research- and outcome-based best practices.
   b.  Provide or recommend technical assistance and training to school employees responsible for conducting investigations of complaints of incidents of harassment or bullying to ensure compliance with section 280.28.
   c.  Analyze harassment and bullying incidence data reported by school districts and accredited nonpublic schools pursuant to section 280.28, subsection 7, and response data from the Iowa youth survey. The office may use its analysis to provide technical assistance to school districts or schools to improve school learning environments and school safety and to achieve compliance with section 280.28.
   d.  Coordinate with the department of public health and other public and private agencies and organizations in the administration of the your life Iowa initiative. Contacts with the initiative relating to possible harassment or bullying shall be shared with the office, which shall assist the initiative in responding to such contacts. The office shall maintain compliance with applicable federal and state privacy laws to ensure the confidentiality of information provided to the initiative.
   e.  Collaborate with the department of public health and other state agencies in the administration of the Iowa youth survey to students in grades six, eight, and eleven in Iowa’s public and nonpublic schools. Survey data shall be evaluated and reported, with aggregate data available online at the Iowa youth survey internet site.
   Sec. ___.  Section 280.28, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  “Electronic” means any communication involving the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electromagnetic, or other similar means. “Electronic” includes but is not limited to communication via electronic mail, internet-based communications including social networking sites and applications, pager service, cell phones, and electronic text messaging, or any other electronic communication site, device, or means.
   Sec. ___.  Section 280.28, subsection 3, Code 2014, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  h.  A procedure for documenting the actions taken by the school to investigate and respond to harassment or bullying.
   Sec. ___.  Section 280.28, subsection 7, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   7.  Integration of policy and reporting.  The board of directors of a school district and the authorities in charge of each nonpublic school shall integrate its antiharassment and antibullying policy into the comprehensive school improvement plan required under section 256.7, subsection 21, and shall report data collected under subsection 6, as specified by the following to the department, to and the local community.:
   a.  Data collected under subsection 6, as specified by the department.
   b.  The process used for filing complaints, including the location of online or other complaint forms.
   c.  The number of school employees and volunteers who have completed antiharassment and antibullying training.
   Sec. ___.  Section 280.28, Code 2014, is amended by adding the following new subsections:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  9.  Parental notification.
   a.  Each school district and accredited nonpublic school shall establish notification procedures for incidents of harassment or bullying in accordance with this subsection. The procedures shall include notification of the custodial parent or guardian of any student directly involved in any incident of harassment or bullying, upon investigation and determination that harassment or bullying has occurred, consistent with a notification plan made in consultation with the student and school guidance staff. The notification shall include information on the action that school officials have taken regarding the incident and the actions school officials will take to prevent further acts of harassment or bullying. If such notification is delayed, the school district or school shall document the reasons for the delay. This paragraph does not prohibit a school official from contacting a parent or guardian about a report of harassment or bullying prior to a determination that harassment or bullying has occurred.
   b.  The requirements of this subsection shall not apply if a school official reasonably believes notification would subject a student to abuse, neglect, or other physical or mental harm.
   c.  Notification pursuant to this subsection shall comply with state and federal privacy laws, regulations, and rules.
   NEW SUBSECTION.  10.  Authority off school grounds.  A school official may investigate and respond appropriately to an alleged incident of harassment or bullying that occurs outside of school, off of school property, or away from a school function or school-sponsored activity. If an alleged incident of harassment or bullying has an effect on school grounds that creates an objectively hostile school environment that meets one or more of the conditions set out under subsection 2, paragraph “b”, a school official shall investigate and respond appropriately to the alleged incident. The school official’s investigation and response to an alleged incident of harassment or bullying that occurs outside of school, off of school property, or away from a school function or school-sponsored activity may include referring the matter to appropriate community-based agencies.
   NEW SUBSECTION.  11.  Rulemaking authority.  The department of education may adopt rules necessary to administer this section in a uniform way across the state.
   Sec. ___.  Section 282.18, subsection 11, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   11.  A pupil who participates in open enrollment for purposes of attending a grade in grades nine through twelve in a school district other than the district of residence is ineligible to participate in varsity interscholastic athletic contests and athletic competitions during the pupil’s first ninety school days of enrollment in the district except that the pupil may participate immediately in a varsity interscholastic sport if the pupil is entering grade nine for the first time and did not participate in an interscholastic athletic competition for another school or school district during the summer immediately following eighth grade, if the district of residence and the other school district jointly participate in the sport, if the sport in which the pupil wishes to participate is not offered in the district of residence, if the pupil chooses to use open enrollment to attend school in another school district because the district in which the student previously attended school was dissolved and merged with one or more contiguous school districts under section 256.11, subsection 12, if the pupil participates in open enrollment because the pupil’s district of residence has entered into a whole grade sharing agreement with another district for the pupil’s grade, or if the parent or guardian of the pupil participating in open enrollment is an active member of the armed forces and resides in permanent housing on government property provided by a branch of the armed services, or if the district of residence determines that the pupil was previously subject to a founded incident of harassment or bullying as defined in section 280.28 while attending school in the district of residence. A pupil who has paid tuition and attended school, or has attended school pursuant to a mutual agreement between the two districts, in a district other than the pupil’s district of residence for at least one school year is also eligible to participate immediately in interscholastic athletic contests and athletic competitions under this section, but only as a member of a team from the district that pupil had attended. For purposes of this subsection, “school days of enrollment” does not include enrollment in summer school. For purposes of this subsection, “varsity” means the same as defined in section 256.46.
   Sec. ___.  EMERGENCY RULEMAKING.  The department of education may adopt emergency rules under section 17A.4, subsection 3, and section 17A.5, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, to implement section 256.100, as enacted in this division of this Act, and the rules shall be effective immediately upon filing unless a later date is specified in the rules. Any rules adopted in accordance with the provisions of this section shall also be published as a notice of intended action as provided in section 17A.4.
   Sec. ___.  EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT.  The following provision or provisions of this division of this Act, being deemed of immediate importance, take effect upon enactment:
   1.  The section of this division of this Act enacting section 256.100.
   ___.  Title page, line 5, by striking <matters> and inserting <matters, and including effective date provisions>>

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RUFF of Clayton