2023 CT Legislation Moving from Anti-Bullying to School Climate: All You Need to Know!

This presentation focuses on the radical changes that have been made to 20+ years of anti-bullying legislation, including the history of all this legislation, the definitional changes with each amendment and the new requirements in the relevant portions of P. A. 23 – 167.   The statutory requirements are outlined as well as what the CT School Climate Policy requires once local Boards of Education adopt it.  The timeline for all of this is included as are the CT School Climate Standards, which are at the center of the CT School Climate Policy.  The new definition of bullying is highlighted, which finally requires a context dependent approach where the investigator determines if there is an imbalance of power (real or perceived).  Finally, the “Challenging Behavior Reporting Form” that has been provided by the CT Social Emotional School Climate Collaborative is not mandatory.  A more generic and user-friendly form that has been approved by school district legal counsel since 2011, is included here.  We recommend that this form be used until an updated version of it is issued.