Rockville Centre schools implement DASA

New York’s Dignity for All Students Act, known as DASA, was signed into law in September 2010 and took effect in July. It addresses issues relating to harassment and discrimination in schools. The law and subsequent regulations issued by the New York State Education Department require that school districts implement provisions prohibiting discrimination and harassment against any student by employees or students on school property or at school functions.

The new law and regulations concerning bullying and harassment required the district to respond. Assistant Superintendent for Pupil, Personnel Services and Special Education Noreen Leahy has been working with district administrators and staff to implement both the letter and the spirit of the law. She said that the legislation, which took effect on the heels of a highly publicized youth-related assault in the village last June, requires an increased sensitivity and awareness to issues relating to harassment, bullying and the treatment of others.

The letter of the law requires the prevention of incidents that interfere with a student’s educational opportunities and emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. Students are protected against conduct that would be a threat or abuse based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex. This involved revising the district’s code of conduct, which was accomplished by a committee of parents, teachers, students and administrators. The law also requires that staff members are able to recognize and respond to acts of discrimination and harassment against students. That training will take place throughout the district.

DASA also requires that the district assign “Dignity Act Coordinators” (DACs) in each building who will be specifically trained to respond to human relations and the types of harassment and bullying previously mentioned. DACs have been designated and are being trained; Nicole Knorr is South Side High School’s DAC, Jivanna Okolica is South Side Middle School’s; Maureen Bedell in Covert and Wilson; Lisa Panebianco in Hewitt and Riverside and Sue Buckheit in Watson. Each of the schools’ principals will serve as “co-DACs.”

The district is also amending its curriculum, as required by the law, to include character education from kindergarten to grade 12. While this is new legislation, awareness and sensitivity to bullying, harassment and character education has been taking place in the district for many years. Leahy said that when she started to look into where the district stood, she was pleased to find that it was “very far along” in its efforts.

While not specifically DASA-related, the district’s Drug and Alcohol Task Force will be renamed the Drug, Alcohol and Violence Prevention Task Force and will remain a cooperative effort with representatives from the school district, the Rockville Centre Police Department, PTA, Youth Council and Confide Counseling Center. Leahy said that its members will continue to address concerns about the effects of drug and alcohol use by students, which they feel are related to troubling incidents such as the June assault on Roxen Road.

The requirements of the legislation, she said, are timely in terms of the school district’s and the Village of Rockville Centre’s interest in improving how students treat one another and relate to the community at large. There was a lot that had to be done to ensure the district is in compliance with the letter of the law and that has been accomplished. Now it is time, Leahy said, to ensure that the spirit of the law becomes evident as a culture of respect for one another and each other’s differences grows in village schools and community.