When The School Calls It Bullying
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 160.775 — reported within two school days, investigated within ten
Missouri 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 intimidation, unwanted aggressive behavior or harassment that is repetitive or substantially likely to be repeated and causes a reasonable student to fear for their physical safety or property, substantially interferes with a student's educational performance, opportunities or benefits, or substantially disrupts the school. It includes cyberbullying and any threat of retaliation for reporting.
- A district employee who witnesses an incident reports it to the school's designated individual within two school days.
- Each school designates someone, teacher level or above, to receive reports.
- The principal or a designee begins an investigation within two school days of receiving a report, and completes it within ten school days of the written report unless good cause exists to extend it.
- Reprisal or retaliation against anyone who reports is prohibited.
Where it is found. The policy is in the student handbook, and treats all students equally.
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 Missouri attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 160.775 — Antibullying policy required; definition; content, requirements
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Missouri attorney.