The Jack Reid Law: Why Independent Schools Need Care Teams More Than Ever

New York’s newly enacted Jack Reid Law has made one thing unmistakably clear for independent schools: bullying is no longer just a matter of culture and values; it is now also a matter of statute.

The law requires nonpublic schools to have clear policies, reporting pathways, and investigation practices when bullying and harassment occur. That is important and overdue. But for independent schools that pride themselves on knowing students deeply, the real question is larger:

• When harm happens between students, who are we, as a school, in that moment?

The Jack Reid Law can set the floor. A Care Team helps define the ceiling.

A quick primer: what the Jack Reid Law requires

In broad strokes, the Jack Reid Law does three main things for independent schools in New York:

1. Defines bullying and harassment broadly, and requires schools to define what those terms mean in their own policies. Bullying and harassment are not limited to one-time, in-person incidents. The law recognizes:

   • Verbal and non-verbal behavior

   • Cyberbullying and social media

   • Conduct off campus that foreseeably disrupts school life

2. Requires a written, accessible anti-bullying policy. Every nonpublic school must adopt a plain-language, age-appropriate policy that:

   • Prohibits bullying and harassment

   • Explains how concerns can be reported

   • Describes how incidents will be investigated and documented

   • Explains how the outcome will be communicated to the student who experienced the bullying

3. Imposes clear reporting and investigation obligations.

   • Employees who witness bullying or receive a report must notify the head of school (or designee) promptly: orally within one school day, and in writing within two.

   • The school must investigate in a timely way, take steps to stop the behavior, and protect the student who has been harmed, including protection from retaliation.

These are necessary guardrails. Policies and handbooks must be updated; faculty and staff must be trained; documentation and follow-through must be consistent.

But even if a school meets every requirement of the Jack Reid Law on paper, an uncomfortable truth remains:

• A legally compliant response is not the same thing as a caring one.

Why a Care Team lens matters

A Care Team is a multidisciplinary group that meets regularly to identify, evaluate, and respond to students of concern, not just in moments of crisis, but over time. It brings together deans, counselors, division leaders, nurses, and other key staff to look at the whole picture of a student’s experience, not just one incident.

In the context of bullying, a Care Team is balancing at least four commitments:

1. Safety: Are students physically and emotionally safe right now?

2. Belonging: Does the student still feel they have a place in this community?

3. Accountability: Is the harm clearly named, with meaningful consequences and repair?

4. Trajectory: What does this incident suggest about where this student may be headed without support?

The Jack Reid Law can tell you what must happen procedurally when bullying is reported. A Care Team helps you decide what must happen relationally, for every student involved and for the wider community.

Rethinking our language: beyond “bully” and “victim”

The law needs clear categories. Schools, however, live in the language they choose.

In our work with independent schools, we increasingly see concern about fixed labels like “bully” and “victim” in day-to-day practice. From a philosophical and developmental perspective, it can be more helpful to describe students who experienced harm and students who engaged in bullying behavior. Fixed labels can freeze students in a single role and make it harder for them, and those around them, to imagine change.

In the Care Team frame, it can be more helpful to speak about:

• The student who experienced harm or the student who was targeted, and

• The student who engaged in bullying behavior or the student who caused harm.

This isn’t about softening the reality of what happened. It is about keeping the door open to growth and repair, and recognizing that students sometimes occupy both roles over time. Care Teams start from the premise that no young person is reducible to their worst moment.

How a Care Team holds the student who experienced harm

The Jack Reid Law emphasizes reporting, investigation, and notification. A Care Team asks: what happens next for this student?

When a student has been targeted, a Care Team’s attention centers on:

• Safety and predictability Ensuring the student feels safe in classrooms, hallways, online spaces connected to school, and at activities. That may mean schedule changes, supervision adjustments, or adult “anchors” who are intentionally present in key parts of the day.

• Voice and agency Treating the student as a partner in the response, not just a witness. Asking, within reasonable bounds: What would help you feel safer? Who do you want checking in with you? What are you worried about next week, not just tomorrow?

• Dignity and privacy Avoiding the unintentional harm of overexposure. How much do the other students really need to know? How do we prevent this student from being defined by what happened to them?

• Continuity of care Recognizing that bullying is often a stress injury, not a discrete event. The Care Team keeps the student on its radar by tracking attendance, engagement, counseling contact, and social dynamics over time.

In this frame, the required communication of the investigation’s outcome is the beginning of an ongoing plan of care, not the closing of a file.

How a Care Team holds the student who caused harm

A Care Team approach is equally clear-eyed about the student who engaged in bullying behavior.

It starts from two truths:

1. The behavior must be named and stopped. Accountability is non-negotiable. Consequences, boundaries, and, when appropriate, separation are part of keeping others safe.

2. The student is still part of the community’s circle of concern. They are not simply “the bully”; they are a young person whose choices are signaling something that needs attention.

From here, a Care Team asks different questions than a purely disciplinary process might:

• What patterns do we see in this student’s behavior, peer group, online life, or stressors?

• Where are the skill gaps: in empathy, emotional regulation, conflict navigation, or social problem-solving?

• Is this behavior tied to their own experiences of trauma, marginalization, or previous victimization?

• Are there warning signs that this pattern could escalate into more serious violence, self-harm, or chronic relational cruelty?

Accountability, in this view, is a form of care. The goal is not simply to “deal with” the incident but to change the student’s trajectory, through consequences, counseling, coaching, family partnership, and, when appropriate, structured opportunities for repair.

Connecting law, care, and independent school mission

Independent schools are particularly well-suited to this combined approach.

• Scale and relationships mean Care Teams can realistically know students by name and story, not just by case number.

• Mission-driven communities can align their response to bullying with their deepest values, whether Quaker, faith-based, progressive, or traditional, while still meeting statutory requirements.

• Engaged families expect more than a legal process; they expect a school that sees their child as a whole person, even at their worst moment.

The Jack Reid Law raises the floor. It tells independent schools, “You must have policies. You must train your people. You must act when bullying is reported.”

A Care Team raises the ceiling. It helps a school say, in practice:

• No student who has been harmed will fall through the cracks.

• No student who causes harm will be written off without an attempt to understand and redirect them.

• And no serious incident will be treated as an isolated event, disconnected from the broader safety and well-being of the community.

Questions for independent school leaders

As you consider your response to the Jack Reid Law, it may be worth asking:

• When bullying is reported, who is responsible for the ongoing care of the student who was targeted?

• Who is responsible for the developmental future of the student who caused harm?

• Do we have a standing Care or Student Support Team with the time and authority to hold both students in view?

• Are we content to be legally compliant, or do we want our response to reflect the kind of community we claim to be?

The law sets the minimum standard for how independent schools must respond when students harm one another. A Care Team is how a school lives its mission in that moment, by centering safety, dignity, accountability, and the possibility of growth for every student involved.