Mass. Schools did not follow expert advice to improve PROCEDURES before suicide

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100330/ap_on_re_us/us_school_bullying

"She says South Hadley schools 'had policies, but the procedures need to be toughened up.'"

"Authorities say she endured months of verbal assaults and threats, mostly in school and in person, although some of the bullying occurred on Facebook and in other electronic forms."

"'Nevertheless, the actions — or inactions — of some adults at the school are troublesome,' she said."

Much like my son's issues POLICY may be 80% in place but completey ineffective since PROCEDURES are not standardized and followed especially in one school or across multiple school sites.  I think we need to have a very strong look at existing policy and the minimum requirements of the various laws.  Then we need to discuss what additional policy & programs are needed to be put into place to supplement the minimum and truly make sure we are addressing the problems and then finally PROCEDURES need to be written, followed and disclosed to all the right parties.

This includes written document explaining what the district has done/not done and the rights & responsibilites of the parent/child for both the initiator and the target of an attack.

Those PROCEDURES need to include working with county & state resources on Mental Health, Special Education and Berhavioral Assessments, Safe Schools as well as when, how and to what level of cooperation will the district work with the Police, Sheriff and other law enforcement.