Comptroller Audit Says DOE Needs Better System To Track Bullying Incidents
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An audit says that the Department of Education is not keeping track of bullies.
The DOE adopted regulations in 2008 for recording, investigating and following up on bias bullying complaints.
However, Comptroller John Liu's office found that the agency did not update its online reporting system to automatically classify and sort incidents recorded by schools.
According to the audit, DOE staffers are still searching for bias incident reports by hand.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott defended the DOE.
"From me on down to all of our staff, we make sure that we have a proper culture in our school, making sure that bullying is not tolerated at all and making sure that we develop a culture of respect," Walcott said. "And if there are instances where we need to address it, then we will definitely address it. But we have a team in place that responds to the issues that we hear from either parents or teachers."
The comptroller said that the DOE must develop a better system of monitoring bullying between students to identify problem areas or trends.