How to take an incident from start to finish

An incident occurs

A student, parent, or staff member makes a verbal report to an administrator that a harassment, intimidation or bullying incident occurred.

Once verbally reported, the administrator must decide if the incident warrants an investigation or if it should be dismissed or possibly handled in another manner, such as a code of conduct investigation.

If an investigation is required, the administrator will direct the individual that reported the incident to fill out a HIB form, either via HIBster’s online reporting tool or a paper version provided by the district.

If a teacher fills out the form prior to verbally reporting the incident to the administrator, the teacher should be told not to do that again. If the form is completed, however, the investigation is legally required to commence.

By NJ law, school staff members who witness a harassment, intimidation or bullying incident are required to verbally report an incident to an administrator — generally the principal or vice principal — on the same day the incident was witnessed.

The My Incidents tab

All of the other tabs display incidents based on the stage of the investigation: pending, open, closed, approved, etc. 

The My Incidents tab does not do that. It displays only incidents assigned to the current user, regardless of what stage the incident is at.

For example: an Anti-Bullying Specialist will see just the investigations on which they are working, but the Superintendent might see every incident in the district, since the Superintendent is the final stop for all incidents.

The Pending tab

The PENDING tab is for incidents which have been submitted via the online reporting tool and have not yet been accepted or denied by an Anti-Bullying Specialist or School Admin

Once an incident is submitted from the online reporting form, two things happen:

  • The submitted incident appears in the Pending tab
  • Email notifications are sent to all Anti-Bullying Specialists and School Administrators at the selected school. HIBster can also be configured so that the District Coordinator is alerted as well.
Generally, the school selected for a given incident is the school of the victim; this means that the HIBster users associated with the selected school will be alerted.

All submitted incidents in the Pending tab must be either Accepted or Rejected; Accepting an incident officially begins an investigation while rejecting it ends the process and no further action is required.

All District Coordinators, Building Admins and Anti-Bullying Specialists for the selected school have access to the Pending tab. The Pending tab works on a first-come, first-serve basis: the first user to open the incident in the Pending tab and Accept it will have control of the incident.

Keep in mind that the incident is always assigned to the user that approves the incident.

The school district should decide on a workflow for beginning new incidents, particularly which user will make the Accept/Reject decision:

District Coordinator › If the District Coordinator oversees the PENDING tab, the DC will Accept or Reject the incident. If approved, the incident will, by default, be assigned to the DC which approved it and the investigation is officially under way.

The DC should then assign the incident to the School Admin to complete the initial parent contacts and enter any other necessary information.

School Admin › If a School Admin oversees the PENDING tab, the will Accept or Reject the incident. If approved, the incident will, by default, be assigned to the DC which approved it and the investigation is officially under way.

The School Admin is required by law to contact parents of known victims and perpetrators within 24 hours to inform that an investigation is underway.

The School Admin adds any other details or information that is available, then assigns it to the Anti-Bullying Specialist that will be handling the investigation.

Anti-Bullying Specialist › If an Anti-Bullying Specialist oversees the school’s PENDING tab, the Anti-Bullying Specialist will Accept or Reject the incident. If approved, the incident will, by default, be assigned to the specialist which approved it and the investigation is officially underway. If the incident is denied, no further work is required.

If the Anti-Bullying Specialist Accepts the incident, the Anti-Bullying Specialist should coordinate with the School Admin on the initial parent contact tasks.

Once the incident is approved by either the Anti-Bullying Specialist or School Admin, the incident is available in the Open tab.

The Open tab

The OPEN tab is for incidents which are currently being investigated by the school Anti-Bullying Specialist or being reviewed by the School Admin.

Which users handle which tasks? This part of the workflow varies from district to district, but HIBster can provide a general workflow.

Anti-Bullying Specialist › The Anti-Bullying Specialist usually handles the first six tabs:

  • General
  • Classification
  • Location
  • Witness & Evidence
  • Motivation
  • Additional Information.
These six tabs comprise the investigative aspect of an incident.

During the investigation process, Anti-Bullying Specialists should also mark complete any tasks that were finished while the incident was assigned to the specialist.

›› Once the Anti-Bullying Specialist concludes the investigation, the incident is usually assigned to the School Admin.


School Admin › The School Admin usually completes the next four tabs:

  • Executive Summary A brief write up devoid of identifying information designed to convey the critical aspects of the incident to the Board of Education

  • Action Any discipline associated with the incident

  • Conclusions The founded/unfounded determination is notated here

  • Tasks Mark completed the tasks that were finished while assigned to the School Admin.

Please note that the School Admin is not required to complete these four tabs; the Anti-Bullying Specialist may complete them or even the District Coordinator. Again, this is just a common workflow and each district should handle it as it sees fit.

After completing those three tabs, however, the School Admin must Close the incident. This action is completed in the Conclusions tab by clicking the Close button at the bottom of the page. Only the School Admin has access to the Closed button.

Once an incident is closed, HIBster will prompt the School Admin to assign the incident to the superintendent. It is good practice to assign the incident to the superintendent right away. Within 48 hours of the incident being Closed, the School Admin must assign it to the superintendent.

Some district may add an additional step where the School Admin assigns the incident to the District Coordinator for review and then the District Coordinator will assign it to the Superintendent.

Which users can view an incident in the Open tab?

Anti-Bullying Specialist › Anti-Bullying Specialists that share the same 1.) school designation and 2.) type designation (HIB, CoC, VV and/or AA) as the incident can view it in the OPEN tab. This is true even if the incident is not assigned to them. However, to edit the incident, it must be assigned to the Anti-Bullying Specialist.

Specialists assigned to multiple schools can view all incidents for those schools in the Open tab.

Building Administrators › Building Administrators can view every incident in their school.

District Coordinators › District Coordinators can view every incident in an Open tab for every school in the district.

Superintendents › Superintendents can view every incident in an Open tab for every school in the district.

The Closed tab

The CLOSED tab is for incidents which have been closed by the School Admin [the principal] and are waiting to be assigned to the Superintendent or are being reviewed by the Superintendent for final approval.

If an incident is CLOSED, it signified that the School Admin [principal] has reviewed all of the supporting material in the investigation, has no further questions about the investigation and has either made or agrees with the founded/unfounded decision. No more steps will be taken to determine what occurred with the investigation and it is now in the hands of the Superintendent for approval.

The Approved tab

The APPROVED tab is for incidents which have been approved by the Superintendent and are now ready to be affirmed by the Board of Education.

Superintendent approval is subjective and can mean different things to different districts. The most common understanding is that the investigations is complete and ready to be sent to the Board of Education.

After reviewing the incident, the superintendent must Approve the incident. This action is completed in the Conclusions tab by clicking the Approve button at the bottom of the page. Only the Superintendent has access to the Closed button.

If the incident is assigned to the Superintendent without being Closed first, the Superintendent will see both a Close and Approve button. Both can be selected simultaneously.

Once the Superintendent Approves the incident, it must be presented at the next Board of Education meeting.