1. Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedure
October 5, 2012
Parent Leadership Team Meeting
Mark Langdorf

2. Bullying and Harassment Goal for Today
Purpose
Board Policy
State Statute
School’s Responsibility
Beth
The purpose of this presentation is to update you on board policy and state statute related to the process and procedure for identifying and investigating student bullying and harassment. Mark Langdorf and I, working in cooperation with Paula Ferrell, Joy Salamone, and Andrea Alford, have revised the forms and procedures to be followed in investigating complaints of bullying and harassment.
In addition to the requirements of policy and statute, it is our responsibility as educators to ensure our students are safe on campus.

3. Bullying Policy and Statute
– Bullying, Harassment, and Dating Violence and Abuse
Statute
– Bullying and harassment prohibited
– Dating violence and abuse prohibited
The bullying policy is comprehensive in scope and contains all of the elements of bullying and harassment reporting.
I have provided links to the statutes, student survey results, and the safe schools DOE website for your convenience. As you already know, based on the results of our student survey, while the majority of our students feel safe on our campuses and do not report being bullied or harassed, 1,525 secondary students reported they have been afraid to attend school because of bullying, and 1,290 elementary students reported the same. We must act in order to change these alarming numbers.

4. How Bullies Act vs. Student Conflict
Harm occurs as the result of repeated intentional acts, rather than the result of a mistake/unknown act by an alleged perpetrator or frustration between two students.
A power imbalance will exist between the target (victim) and the perpetrator.
The perpetrator enjoys carrying out the action.
The perpetrator repeats the behavior, often in a systematic way.
The victim is hurt physically or psychologically and has a sense of being persecuted or oppressed.
-Source Olweus (1993)
We will not in most cases know who on our campus is a bully as they come in all shapes and sizes, but they all utilize certain common techniques/traits that by now we hope you can spot. These traits are:

5. Three Types of Bullying
Physical Bullying: Harm to another’s person or property.
Emotional Bullying: Harm to another’s self-concept.
Relational Bullying: Harm to another through damage (or threat of damage) to relationship or to feelings of acceptance, friendship, or group inclusion.
A bully will do any or all of the following techniques via non-verbal, verbal, or physical behaviors. These behaviors may be perpetrated by an individual or by a group and there may be multiple victims.

6. Bullying Study A 2001 study of 15,600 students, grades 6-10, revealed:
16% of U.S. students are bullied regularly and
13% are initiators of bullying behavior;
6% of all these students reported both bullying, and being bullied by others.
(Namesel, Overpeck, Pilla, Simmons-Morton, Scheidt, 2001)

7. Teachers See Everything and Respond
Toronto survey, Ziegler and Pepler (1993)
71% of teachers indicated they almost always intervene in incidents of bullying.
Only 25% of students surveyed indicated this to be the case.
Survey speculates reasons:
Majority of episodes are verbal.
Episodes are brief.
Bullying occurs when monitoring is low.
Behavior is covert.

8. Early Warning Traits of a Bully/Victims
Phase One – Trolling (Perpetrator looks for easy targets)
Students with low self-esteem.
Students with low physical strength.
Students easily intimidated.
Students who don’t resist/fight back.
Perpetrator will test potential victim boundaries by invading the students personal space, test reactions to guide comments, threats, taunts.
Phase Two – Campaign (Perpetrator escalated the behavior)
Student victim hopes for relief and tries to fit in.
Student victim experiences guilt, self-blame, shame at not being able to stop the behavior or stand up for himself or herself.
Perpetrator more frequently attacks and will often encourage others to participate or tell all involved or witnesses to the bullying not to tattle.
Phase Three – Bully-Victim Relationship (What started subtly is now happening every day in multiple places)
Student victim experiences a growing sense of despair.
Propensity for violence increase for both the Bully and the Victim.

9. What Are We Doing to Reduce Bullying?
Administration is:
Training staff on what constitutes Bullying and what is in the district's Bullying/Harassment policies.
Training staff regarding the difference between a bullying incident and student conflict.
Advising staff of their responsibility to supervise students.
Training staff on the signs and symptoms that a child is a target of bullying behavior.
Advising staff on classroom and/or playground intervention and disciplinary actions which can be implemented.

10. What We Do When:
Level I Response – Students who approach a teacher or teacher observes problems he/she perceives as bullying:
Teacher are trained to learn if this has happened before. Obtain dates, times, and circumstances. All multiple incidents of bullying are referred to administration for investigation. (Level II response.)
If the report is a first report and no prior incidents have occurred, the teacher will intervene and correct the perpetrating student. The goal is to correct the situation. (i.e. speak to the perpetrator and try to resolve without major disciplinary impact).
Victims are advised by their teacher what they are going to do, and the victim is advised to report back if further issues arise. The teacher is then encouraged to follow up with the victim in a few days to see if issues have resolved. Several days or weeks later the teacher may once again follow up to make certain further incidents have not occurred.
If the student comes to report again, or if the teacher is made aware that the pattern of bullying is continuing, then this report is referred to administration. (Level II response).

11. What to Do When (continued)
Level II Response – Student approach staff regarding multiple situations or teacher observes multiple events regarding bullying.
Formal investigation starts
The Victim will complete a Student Incident Reporting Form 1
The Administrator will question the perpetrator (without victim present) and the perpetrator completes the Accused Statement Form 2.
Administrator will question any witnesses reported by the victim and the perpetrator. All witnesses complete Witness Statement Form 3.
Administrator reviews all statements taken, interviews any staff members that may have an impact on the investigation and decide if bullying occurred or not. Administrator completes the Incident Investigation Form 4.

12. What to Do When (continued)
Level III Response – Serious Matters if the investigation includes:
Sexual Harassment
Racial Harassment
Discrimination base of protected class (race, sex, disability, etc.)
Illegal or criminal activity
Pattern of taunting & harassment over time by the same perpetrator toward the same victim
Severe, persistent, or perverse behavior
Some or all of the above may need police intervention.

13. Bullying and Harassment Update
Conclusions
Bullying is serious, and we believe it is our responsibility as educators to intervene appropriately
Intent is to maintain a learning environment that is free from bullying and harassment
Our responsibilities include the following:
To train
To investigate
To remedy
To monitor