Customer Highlight: Streamlining Bullying and Student Violence Incident Reporting and Investigation with Cleveland ISD

Cleveland Independent School District in Cleveland, TX, was experiencing severe bullying and student violence incidents in the district. Prior to implementing PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite and Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP), it, like most districts, received handwritten bullying reports submitted to an administrator. This paper process left room for mistakes and oftentimes led to long and sometimes inconclusive investigations.

In addition to its inefficient reporting process, Cleveland ISD did not offer training for staff or students regarding bullying or student violence incidents. Educating staff and students on the proper way to handle these situations is vital to ensuring the safety of students.

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, Cleveland ISD implemented PublicSchoolWORKS’ EmployeeSafe Suite and Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP) and saw its processes and response to incidents improve dramatically.

“Implementing the PublicSchoolWORKS system allows us to easily report and gather the data we need when making decisions about student safety,” said Karin Miller, Assistant Superintendent of Special Programs at Cleveland ISD. “Staff members are now trained on key student safety topics such as bullying prevention, suicide prevention and depression in students. The program also gives students and parents the ability to report incidents electronically and auto-notifies appropriate administrators of a report based their security level, thus ensuring that issues are being addressed as quickly as possible.”

Instead of chasing down paper incident reports and potentially misplacing them, administrators get an alert via email when a report is filed. All actions regarding an incident are documented and maintained within the system, giving administrators easy access to data and the ability to pull trend reports. 

Both staff and students now have access to an abundance of information about bullying and student violence prevention. Anonymous reporting mechanisms, hotlines and parent portals are new and very beneficial tools that are now available to the Cleveland ISD community. Even the district’s police department is involved with the student safety program. Each police officer receives training on various issues to ensure they understand some of the situations Cleveland ISD’s students face.

“The administrative processes surrounding student safety concerns are much easier to track now that PublicSchoolWORKS is managing it,” said Miller. “We are confident that our staff and students know the appropriate actions to take should they encounter a bullying or student violence incident. PublicSchoolWORKS has allowed us to shift our focus from damage control to education.”

To learn more about how your district can use EmployeeSafe Suite and the SBVPP to streamline student safety, email sales@publicschoolworks.com.