Student hazing and bullying have ­become endemic and intractable problems with often tragic outcomes. Headlines of abuse are becoming common with details of students inflicting egregious physical and emotional harm on other ­students. Hazing can include ­brutal ­physical acts, sexual assaults, mandatory binge drinking, forced calisthenics and other harmful conduct. Bullying, on the other hand, is any unwanted physical, verbal or other aggressive behavior by one student directed at another. While hazing is ­typically used to gain membership in a group, bullying uses tactics to exclude the victim.

To address this problem, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill to end the misconduct in May 2016, and to expand Pennsylvania's anti-hazing law, 24 P.S. Section 5353. The law was previously limited to college students and now extends its reach to student perpetrators in grades 7 through 12. The law also requires private and public secondary schools to prepare written anti-hazing policies, post them on their websites, and provide all athletic coaches with copies. A violation qualifies as a third-degree ­misdemeanor. The law also allows secondary schools and colleges to punish students through fines, probation, suspension, or to withhold diplomas and transcripts. In more extreme cases, the amendments also permit students to be ­expelled and even face jail time.

When hazing and bullying occur, victims and their families often feel betrayed by the school officials and seek to bring claims against the school district. Frequently, these incidents involve students victimized by other students, while school officials took no action to prevent the foreseeable harm. Claims filed in Pennsylvania state courts against a public school district or public charter school are typically not viable because local agencies are protected by Pennsylvania's governmental immunity statute, 42 Pa.C.S. Section 8541 et seq.. Private schools, however, do not have this defense and remain susceptible to claims filed in state courts.