With all the talk about bullying in schools, a new federal report shows a remarkably rosy picture — 60 percent of San Diego County school districts and charter organizations report zero harassment or intimidation on the basis of race, sex or disability.

Encinitas Union Elementary School District? No incidents among its 5,400 students in the most recent report, for 2013-14. Coronado schools? Zero. La Mesa-Spring Valley School District had no such bullying to report either.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Education say the numbers are an accurate reflection of what school officials report to them, but some advocates say the data defies belief.

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“All these zeros do is raise questions,” said Erin Prangley, associate director for public policy for the American Association of University Women, a national nonprofit. “To say that there are zero incidents of bullying or harassment is just not accurate, nor does it resemble reality.”

The data is collected every other year using a mandatory federal survey of local schools. It’s used for enforcement of civil rights laws. Reporting of bullying based on sexual orientation and religion was optional for school districts for the most recent survey, but will be mandatory for the next round.

According to the latest figures, 35 out of 58 San Diego County school districts or charter organizations reported zero incidents of bullying or harassment on the basis of race, sex or disability in 2013-14, or 60 percent.

The rate of school districts reporting no such bullying is even higher at the state and federal level, at 68 percent of districts in California and 62 percent of districts nationwide.


More than 85 percent of districts in Florida and Texas reported zero bullying incidents based on race, sex or disability in 2013-14, while just 25 percent of schools in West Virginia did.

Prangley said the results are concerning, particularly when no such incidents are reported, since the data helps measure school environment, which is crucial for a child’s educational success.

“As a parent myself, if I saw a zero on my daughter’s school, that would raise more concerns,” she said. “I think that people should be angry that they’re not being told the truth about the environment in which our children are trying to learn.”

Prangley said a study by her group in 2011 found that nearly half of students in grades 7 to 12 — and more than half of girls — reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the previous school year.


Of the 23 San Diego County school organizations that did disclose bullying incidents, San Dieguito Union High School District had the most, 102 incidents, followed by Vista Unified at 87 and San Diego Unified and National Elementary, both at 65.

Prangley said such numbers are often an indication that the school has a positive culture in which reporting is encouraged, rather than a higher prevalence of bullying.

San Diego Unified spokeswoman Linda Zintz said the district has been very aggressive about implementing anti-bullying programs and services in recent years. Part of this strategy involved creating a variety of methods for parents, staff and especially students to file a report.

Every bullying concern is investigated, Zintz said. Students also have the option of filing a report anonymously and directly to an individual school, so if they’re the victim of bullying or see it happen, they’re more comfortable coming forward.


“We try to address any bullying exactly where it’s taking place, so most issues would go to the principal and are resolved at the school site,” she said. “But if they feel like it’s more serious, or they’re uncomfortable sending the information directly to the school, they can go to the Office of Quality Assurance,” which conducts its own investigation.

Each school is responsible for recording reports of bullying that occur and relaying information to the district, Zintz said. The quality assurance office also keeps records of every report made during the school year.

The district recently began creating new programs to address Islamophobia, since new research found that Muslim students are now experiencing a higher level of bullying in schools.

Reports on basis of race, sex or disability Total students bullied Total students disciplined for bullying Oceanside Unified School District 2 0 Grossmont Union High School District 53 29 Escondido Charter High School District 6 4 San Dieguito Union High School District 102 74 Santee School District 56 43 Cajon Valley Union School District 19 16 Sweetwater Union High School District 52 45 National Elementary School District 65 59 Fallbrook Union Elementary School District 35 35 Escondido Union School District 33 33 Carlsbad Unified School District 31 31 San Ysidro Elementary School District 16 16 Sbc - High Tech High 6 6 Vista Unified School District 87 102 Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District 10 12 Fallbrook Union High School District 12 15 Chula Vista Elementary School District 8 10 Lemon Grove School District 8 10 Borrego Springs Unified School District 4 6 San Diego County Office Of Education 16 28 Escondido Union High School District 6 18 Poway Unified School District 4 12 San Diego Unified School District 65 786

Districts are arranged starting with those in which bullying reports outnumber discipline for bullying, then descending to those that have the reverse proportion.

Experts say there could be a number of causes for any under-reporting of bullying in the data.


Students might not feel comfortable reporting a harassment or bullying incident, or might not be confident their claims would be taken seriously.

Faculty and staff might not be trained to identify bullying when it happens, or know how to handle the situation and report it to a higher level.

David Bristol, a Solana Beach attorney whose clients have sued school districts, said there’s most likely a disconnect between schools and the district’s administration, which is responsible for reporting school data to outside entities.

“I guarantee that the vast majority of [incidents] don’t get reported to the district. Individual schools try to handle them internally and no one hears about it unless something really bad happens,” Bristol said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. It is. Every day, at every school.”


Bristol said sometimes even the “really bad” cases don’t reach the district. During the 2013-2014 school year, he represented a student who was being bullied so frequently that Bristol had to have someone shadow him every day, “just to keep him safe.”

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“People were just taking shots at him all of the time. You know, knocking the books out of his hand, teasing him, pushing him,” he said. “That never made it to the district level.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which administers the survey, the quality and accuracy of the data is dependent on the district or school itself. Officials are required to verify the accuracy of the submission, and the approval can only come from a district superintendent or the superintendent’s designee.


“This is self-reported data from school districts, and while we know it’s not perfect, it’s the best national data available on issues of equity in schools,” Press Secretary Dorie Turner said. “We continue to look for ways to work with school districts to improve the accuracy of the data. The Civil Rights Data Collection shines a huge spotlight on the successes and challenges of schools and school districts in providing educational opportunity to all children.”

San Marcos Unified School District has a student population of more than 20,000 students and is among the districts that reported zero bullying or harassment in the mandatory categories. Superintendent Kevin Holt and communications coordinator Anna Roybal did not respond to questions about the federal report.

Amy Cooper, executive assistant to the superintendent and board of trustees for South Bay Union School District, said the district’s report of no such bullying incidents was correct.

“For the subject year, we had no incidents of bullying/harassment on the basis of race, sex, or disability,” Cooper said.


Bonsall Unified School District, which has a student population of more than 2,250, also reported zero bullying based on those protected classes. Superintendent Justin Cunningham said he is not familiar with the report and did not know who completed the survey.

He said no such incidents at the elementary level might be true, but doubts incidents at Sullivan Middle School were properly recorded or disclosed.

“I would be surprised if that was totally accurate,” Cunningham said. “I tend to think that they didn’t catch as much as what was actually going on.”

Cunningham said a collection of very different communities come together at that the middle school level, which generally leads to some conflict among students.


“From what I’ve seen, it’s a little sketchy that there’s absolutely nothing going on,” he said. “Given that [students] haven’t experienced a lot of [bullying] on the elementary level, they might just assume that some kind of bullying is the norm, but we’re certainly working a lot harder on it now.”

Administration at the Sullivan Middle has since changed, Cunningham said, and several programs have been implemented to improve communication between staff and students, as well as the overall school environment. He said he plans to discuss incident reporting with staff at the start of the new school year.

“We’ll definitely make sure that everyone is aware that this is a part of the school accountability plan,” he said. “It’s not just test scores anymore. A lot of our success is based on school climate.”

Coronado Unified associate superintendent Keith Butler said the district’s survey response would have been approved by former Superintendent Jeffrey Felix, who retired last month. Butler said there are strong counseling services at all schools and staff will work to ensure that bullying incidents are reported accurately.


“This is something we take very seriously,” he said.

Encinitas Union and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment about their federal reports.

School districts that reported zero bullying during the 2013-2014 school year Alpine Union Elementary School District Bonsall Unified School District Cardiff Elementary School District Classical Academy (K-8) Classical Academy High Coastal Academy Coronado Unified School District Dehesa Elementary School District Del Mar Union Elementary School District Diego Hills Charter School Diego Valley Public Charter EJE Academies Encinitas Union Elementary School District Guajome Park Academy Charter Jamul-Dulzura Union Elementary School District Juan Bautista De Anza Julian Charter Julian Union Elementary School District Julian Union High School District La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Lakeside Union Elementary School District Literacy First Charter Schools Mountain Empire Unified School District North County Trade Tech High Ramona City Unified School District Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School District San Marcos Unified School District San Pasqual Union Elementary School District SIA Tech Solana Beach Elementary School District South Bay Union School District Spencer Valley Elementary School District The Heights Charter Vallecitos Elementary School District Warner Unified School District

Only bullying based on race, sex and disability is required to be reported

