Strengthening Practices to Address Bullying

San Diego Unified School District

San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) created safer and more supportive school environments with funding from CDC. The district developed an online form for students to confidentially report bullying and harassment, and strengthened practices to address reported bullying.

SDUSD made the Online Bullying Reporting Form available to more than 103,000 students across 226 schools over three years.

Before the form was available, 79 instances of bullying and harassment were reported between July 2013 and June 2015, and only 50% of schools had specific practices in place to prevent bullying and harassment.

SDUSD made the Online Bullying Reporting Form available in July 2015. The form reduced barriers to reporting and provided the district with more information about the problem. Schools also began to improve practices to address and prevent bullying and harassment.

By Spring of 2018, the percentage of schools implementing practices increased to 77%. The school district received 7,468 reported instances by May 2019. This included over 3,000 reports through the Online Bullying Reporting Form and over 4,000 reported directly to staff.

Schools put the following practices in place to help students feel safer and more supported:

Designated a staff member to whom students could confidentially report bullying and harassment
Trained staff to prevent, identify, and respond to bullying and harassment
Publicized and disseminated policies, rules, or regulations on bullying and sexual harassment
Provided parents and families with information on preventing bullying and harassment

Creating safe spaces to report bullying and harassment, and visibly taking actions to address incidents and improve environments ensures that students feel supported.