The Millburn Board of Education tonight will review on first reading a policy on dating violence that outlines guidelines for dealing with cases of verbal, emotional, physical or sexual abuse at school.

The policy requires any staff to report any incidents they see or hear about to the principal, whether the abuse occurred in person or electronically through emails, texting or social media. 

In addition, the policy calls for education for students to understand what dating violence is and what they can do about it and so they realize it is also a matter of one person trying to control or exert power over another.

Incidents of dating violence will be kept in files separate from the students’ academic or discipline files so that the information will not be inadvertently released, according to the policy.

If a student is found to be in violation of the policy, depending on the circumstances, he or she could face the following consequences: detention, suspension, expulsion and having he incident reported to police.

Depending on the circumstances, there could also be parent conferences, pupil counseling, peer support group and corrective instruction.

The board will also have a transportation update regarding this year’s new subscription busing program. 

At a previous meeting, a resident raised questions about the program, wondering how many people were riding the bus this year compared with years when there was courtesy busing and wondered about the cost of the program to the district.

District officials have said that the numbers of riders exceeded expectations.

The board meets tonight at 7:45 at the Education Center.