An overhaul of Jim Thorpe Area School District’s bullying policy, presented to the board’s policy committee Wednesday, strikes the requirement that bullying involve a pattern of behavior over time. It also adds artificial intelligence to the list of tools that can be used to bully.

The changes stem from revisions to the state school code. Superintendent Robert Presley walked the committee through the rewrite of Policy 249, which the district last updated a year ago.

“They removed that you have to have a pattern of aggressive behavior over time and an imbalance of power to be considered bullying,” Presley said. “I don’t have to be bigger than you. A smaller (student) can be bullying a bigger one.”

Cyberbullying, previously handled separately, is now written directly into the policy. So are AI definitions.

“If I’m using AI-generated photos to bully you or cyberbully you, that’s now part of this policy,” Presley said.

How the district investigates complaints is also changing. The state is pushing schools toward a standardized process modeled on Title IX sexual harassment investigations.

“What they’re trying to do is get everything to mimic a Title IX investigation. They want all the forms to be very similar,” Presley said. “So now there’s no ‘I investigate this way.’ The form’s right there. That’s what we do.”

The district will have 15 days to report its findings.

The policy also gives administrators something they didn’t have before — limited discretion on when to notify a parent.

“The previous bullying policy said you have to immediately notify parents. This one gives you a little leeway, because if a kid comes in and says, ‘If my parent knows this, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to beat me,’ it gives you a little leeway to hold off just to make sure this kid is safe,” Presley said. “Under previous law and policy, you didn’t.”

Notification still must happen as soon as possible, he said.

Districts will also have to prove their discipline worked. The policy requires written documentation of corrective actions and follow-up to confirm the behavior stopped.

“We have to monitor the effectiveness of our corrective actions. We have to protect the students and make sure there’s no retaliation,” Presley said. “Those are all things that they just made more explicit.”

Bullying, cyberbullying and AI-related incidents will become part of the district’s annual July 31 report to the state.

The bullying rewrite was one of five policies the committee reviewed Wednesday, most of them driven by changes in state law.

A separate update to the K-8 student handbook will tie the two policies together. After a student used a cellphone to take a photo, the district found a gap in its handbook language and moved to close it. Photos used to harass another student will now trigger both policies.

“If you’re using (a photo) for cyberbullying, it’s going to get moved over to that policy as well,” Presley said. “You did this, but you also violated cyberbullying by posting it to Snapchat or whatever you did.”

The policies are expected to go before the full board at its next regular meeting.