Every child in America has the right to go to public school without being harassed, intimidated or bullied, and every parent in Missoula should be able to see their children off to school every day with the assurance that their kids will be safe.

It's the school district's job to make sure of that, so when the teachers, staff and administrators somehow fail to provide that protection, it's up to them to figure out what went wrong and take the necessary steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Hellgate Middle School, like other schools, has a policy in place to prevent students from being harassed and bullied - but for some reason, that policy failed to keep Pat Fuglei, an eighth-grader who has autism, from being bullied repeatedly, to the point that his parents felt they had no other choice but to pull their son out of school.

In response to the Fuglei family's decision and the Oct. 25 Missoulian story that detailed the reasons behind it, the Hellgate Elementary School District board held a special meeting Monday night. Unfortunately, school administrators did not use that meeting to reassure parents that they are, in fact, taking a close look at how the school system failed one of its special needs students.

Instead, the discussion focused on deflecting blame from school staff who say they had no way of knowing any bullying was taking place. They should have.

The student handbook given to each student and signed by each parent outlines the steps that should be taken when an incident like bullying occurs. But those steps weren't followed in Pat Fuglei's case.

Kids who are bullied are often embarrassed at being a target. They aren't likely to speak up to teachers, and they may not even tell their parents. It seems especially obtuse to expect children with special needs to complain about any torment they may be experiencing at the hands of their peers.

They shouldn't have to - and parents shouldn't have to fill out any official forms in order to know their children are safe at school. Students should be able to tell their teachers when they witness problems, and know that their reports will trickle up the chain of command as high as they need to in order to be resolved.

That said, it's hard to believe that the adults at Hellgate didn't know that one of their students was being harassed and bullied. More likely, there was some breakdown in communication along the way. After all, policies are only as good as the people behind them.

Hellgate's commitment to maintaining a safe learning environment for every student is clear, even if its execution is imperfect. As Hellgate superintendent Doug Reisig told the Missoulian editorial board last week, "(Bullying) is serious to us, and that is why we talk about it at the start of every year. We will never compromise at this school in securing the health, welfare and safety of these children. We try to rectify situations and correct student behavior when problems are brought to our attention."

On Tuesday, Reisig posted a letter to school district residents, available on the school district's Web site at www.hellgate.k12.mt.us/hellgate. The letter states that principals and counselors will now meet regularly to discuss current bullying programs, including how to report bullying in an effective way. It also says that Reisig has created a new committee to examine bullying prevention methods that work, and that the school board can expect to receive regular updates on these new efforts.

That's a good start. The bullying that Pat Fuglei endured brought a problem to our attention. There's simply no excuse now for not acting on it.