CT Legislature Revises Bullying Laws

Last week, Governor Lamont signed Public Act 23-167, which makes significant changes to Connecticut’s bullying law that become mandatory for the 2025-2026 school year. Notably, the new law: (1) requires school districts to implement a new Connecticut school climate policy (“school climate policy”) and bullying complaint form; (2) redefines previous terms and includes new terms associated with the school climate policy; (3) updates the roles of school climate personnel; and (4) establishes a new annual training requirement. While schools are not required to implement changes to their bullying policies and related procedures until the 2025-2026 school year, as discussed below, boards of education may want to begin developing a transition plan in preparation for the substantial changes to come.

New Connecticut School Climate Policy and Bullying Complaint Form

The new law requires the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (“CABE”) to develop, update and approve a “school climate policy,” which in turn must be adopted by the Social and Emotional Learning and School Climate Advisory Collaborative (the “Collaborative”). While boards of education must adopt and implement this new policy by the 2025-2026 school year, they may choose to adopt and implement the policy earlier – in either the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 school year – after the new school climate policy has been developed and approved. The law further tasks the Collaborative with creating a uniform bullying complaint form and providing the complaint form and guidance on the implementation of the school climate policy to boards of education. 

Please note that until the new school climate policy has been developed by CABE, adopted by the Collaborative, and adopted by the board of education, each school district must continue to comply with the current Connecticut bullying law, Connecticut General Statutes § 10-222d, and related statutory provisions, policies, and procedures.

New Definitions Related to Bullying

The new law makes several changes to terms related to bullying and school climate. Importantly, the new law redefines “bullying” as “unwanted and aggressive behavior among children in grades kindergarten to twelve, inclusive, that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” The new law also establishes a new and related term, “challenging behavior,” defined as “behavior that negatively impacts school climate or interferes, or is at risk of interfering, with the learning or safety of a student or the safety of a school employee.”

Redefined School Climate Roles and School Climate Improvement Plan

Previously referred to as the “safe school climate coordinator,” “safe school climate specialist,” and the “safe school climate committee,” at the start of the 2025-2026 school year these roles will be referred to as the school climate coordinator, school climate specialist, and school climate committee.

• The school climate coordinator must be the superintendent of schools or an administrator appointed by the superintendent. Similar to current law, the school climate coordinator’s duties include developing strategies to prevent, identify, and respond to “challenging behavior,” communicating such strategies to the school community, and collecting and maintaining data about school climate improvement.
• The school climate specialist must be the building principal or another certified professional employee who is trained in school climate improvement or restorative practices. A school district must have a school climate specialist for each of its schools.  Like the current law, their duties include, in part, implementing evidence and research-based interventions, including restorative practices, and leading in the prevention, identification, and response to “challenging behavior,” including reports of alleged bullying and harassment.
• The school climate committee must be comprised of members who are racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse and representative of various roles in the school community, as detailed more specifically in Section 54 of Public Act 23-167. Members of the school climate committee must be appointed by the school climate specialist.  Pursuant to the new law, the school climate committee must assist in the development, scheduling, and biennial administration of the school climate survey to students, school employees and students’ families.  The new law specifies that parents and guardians must be given notice of the survey’s content and a reasonable opportunity to opt out.

In addition, beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, the school climate specialist at each school must develop, in collaboration with the school climate coordinator, a school climate improvement plan based on the results of their school’s climate survey. This new plan will take the place of the current safe school climate plan. The new school climate improvement plan must include protocols and supports to enhance classroom safety and address “challenging behavior.” Notably, the protocols and supports must include: (1) the “process” by which a designated administrator will assess the facts, severity and intentionality of an incident of challenging behavior; (2) safeguards for students with individualized education plans and Section 504 plans; and (3) tiered responses to incidents of challenging behavior, based on level of impact or frequency of occurrence that differentiate between a single incident, a subsequent incident, and multiple subsequent incidents. Notably, the new law places a particular focus on challenging behavior (rather than bullying) and assessing and responding to, rather than investigating, such conduct.

New Annual Training Requirement

Finally, beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, boards of education must provide resources and annual training to school employees about social and emotional learning, school climate and culture, and evidence and research-based interventions, including, but not limited to, restorative practices. The district’s school climate coordinator must approve individuals or organizations to provide the training, and any school employee may participate.

Tips for the Transition

While boards of education await the new school climate policy, districts can use this time to begin preparing for the transition to the new Connecticut bullying law by taking the following steps:

• The superintendent can review the requirements of the school climate coordinator and determine who will serve in this role;
• Principals at each of the district’s schools can review the required duties of the school climate specialist and determine who will serve in this role;
• In light of the new training requirement, districts may start to consider which individual(s) or organization(s) the school climate coordinator may approve to provide the new annual training.

As we continue to review the new Connecticut bullying law, we will keep you updated on further developments. In the meantime, please reach out to any member of our team with questions regarding the new law.