My Child Is Being Bullied, Harassed, or Discriminated Against

Louisiana has specific, detailed legal requirements for how schools must respond to bullying — and separate federal protections cover discrimination based on race, disability, and sex. Here’s what’s actually required, and what to do when a school falls short.

What counts as bullying under Louisiana law

Under RS 17:416.13, Louisiana law defines bullying as a pattern of one or more of the following:

• Gestures, including obscene gestures
• Written, electronic, or verbal communication — name-calling, threats, taunting, malicious teasing, or spreading untrue rumors
• Physical acts — hitting, kicking, pushing, tripping, choking, damaging property, or unauthorized use of someone’s property
• Repeatedly and purposefully shunning someone from activities

Cyberbullying is explicitly covered, including communications or images sent by email, text, social media, or any electronic device — even when it happens off campus, Louisiana law allows criminal sanctions to reach cyberbullying that affects a student at school.

Every school must have a bullying policy — and tell your child about it

Every public school in Louisiana is required to adopt a bullying policy as part of its student code of conduct. Within the first ten days of enrollment, your child must be informed, in writing, of:

• The prohibition against bullying
• The nature and consequences of bullying, including potential criminal consequences
• How to actually report an incident

A written copy of this notice must also go to you, the parent or guardian.

How to report

Reports of bullying can go to a teacher, counselor, administrator, any school employee, or any chaperone supervising a school activity — it doesn’t have to go through one specific office. Any report you make is required to stay confidential.

Louisiana requires schools to use a standardized bullying report form with an affirmation of truth, which must be available on both the Department of Education’s website and your school’s website. You’re entitled to use this form, and it must be accepted regardless of who you hand it to.

What the school must do after a report

Once a report comes in:

1. The school must investigate
2. The school must meet with the parents or legal guardians of the students involved
3. After the investigation, the school must produce a written document with the findings, placed in the records of the students involved
4. The school must notify you of the findings and what remedial action was taken
5. If appropriate, the school must take disciplinary action and report criminal conduct to law enforcement

Schools are also required to report all documented bullying incidents to the Louisiana Department of Education.

School employees have reporting duties too

Any teacher, counselor, bus operator, or other school employee who witnesses bullying or learns of it is required to report it to a school official — and there are accountability procedures for investigating school employees who fail to act on a bullying report.

Discrimination based on race, national origin, or disability

Separate from the bullying statute, federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination based on race or national origin (Title VI), disability (Section 504 and the ADA), and sex (Title IX). If your child is being targeted because of race, national origin, or disability, that may be a civil rights violation, not just a discipline matter — and it can be pursued through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), separately from anything the school does internally.

Filing an OCR complaint

You do not need to file a complaint with your school district first before going to OCR. A few things to know:

• You have 180 calendar days from the incident to file
• You don’t have to be the victim — you can file on behalf of your child, though you’ll need to identify your child if asked
• OCR will investigate and can negotiate a remedy with the school, or refer the matter for further action if the school won’t cooperate

A note on sexual orientation and gender identity protections

Federal protections in this specific area are currently unsettled and actively being litigated. Louisiana has joined a multi-state lawsuit challenging an expanded federal Title IX rule that would have explicitly covered sexual orientation and gender identity, and a federal court has blocked that expanded rule’s enforcement in Louisiana specifically — this doesn’t mean LGBTQ+ students have no protections, but it does mean this particular area of law is in flux at the federal level. If your child is facing harassment connected to sexual orientation or gender identity, Louisiana’s general bullying statute (which covers the pattern-of-conduct behaviors above regardless of motive) still applies, and an attorney or advocacy organization that tracks this fast-moving area can advise on the most current federal options.

If the school isn’t responding

1. Confirm your report was actually logged using the official bullying report form — verbal reports alone can get lost
2. Request the written findings document the school is required to produce
3. If the school fails to act, use the Procedural Violation Documentation Letter to document the failure
4. Escalate to the Louisiana Department of Education, or to OCR if the underlying issue is race, national origin, disability, or sex discrimination

This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change — always verify with a licensed attorney for your specific situation.