When The School Calls It Bullying
Minn. Stat. 121A.031 — an investigation begun within three school days
Minnesota does not leave bullying to each school's sense of it. The statute requires a policy and says what the policy has to contain, which turns a vague complaint into a specific one: not whether the school cares, but whether it is doing what its own required policy says.
The definition. Bullying means intimidating, threatening, abusive or harming conduct that is objectively offensive and either involves an actual or perceived imbalance of power and is repeated or forms a pattern, or materially and substantially interferes with a student's educational opportunities or ability to take part in school.
- A staff member in each building is the primary contact to receive reports and see that the policy is carried out.
- School employees who witness it or have reliable information make reasonable efforts to address and resolve it.
- An investigation begins within three school days of a report.
- The school intervenes immediately to protect the target, with a presumption, at the administrator's discretion and within data practices law, that the parents of the target and of the actor are notified.
Where it reaches. On school premises, at school functions and on school transportation, on school technology, and off campus electronic conduct that substantially and materially disrupts learning or the school environment.
Discipline itself, suspension and expulsion procedure, federal civil rights law on harassment based on a protected characteristic, and criminal charges for conduct that is also a crime are outside this page. Whether a district followed its own policy in a particular case, and what can be done if it did not, are questions for a licensed Minnesota attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Minn. Stat. 121A.031 — School student bullying policy
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Minnesota attorney.