By law, the school must have a DASA (Dignity for All Students Act) Coordinator. The Knickerbocker Elementary School DASA Coordinator is Janelle Dupee.  If you have questions or need to report an issue please contact her at 315-785-3740 or jdupee@watertowncsd.org.

The Dignity for All Students Act (from nysed.gov)

New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (The Dignity Act) seeks to provide the State’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function.

The Dignity Act was signed into law on September 13, 2010, and took effect on July 1, 2012. Amendments to the act are effective as of July 1, 2013, and are noted below under ***DIGNITY ACT NEWS***.

The original legislation amended State Education Law by creating a new Article 2 – Dignity for All Students.  The Dignity Act also amended Section 801-a of New York State Education Law regarding instruction in civility, citizenship, and character education by expanding the concepts of tolerance, respect for others and dignity to include: an awareness and sensitivity in the relations of people, including but not limited to, different races, weights, national origins, ethnic groups, religions, religious practices, mental or physical abilities, sexual orientations, gender identity, and sexes. The Dignity Act further amended Section 2801 of the Education Law by requiring Boards of Education to include language addressing The Dignity Act in their codes of conduct.

Additionally, under the Dignity Act, schools will be responsible for collecting and reporting data regarding material incidents of discrimination and harassment.

More information regarding the Dignity Act can be found by following the link:

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/