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HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION AND BULLYING
State of Legislative Mandate and Purpose
This policy is a result of the legislative mandate and public policy embodied in the School Bullying Protection Act, 70 O.S. §24- 100.2. The Oklahoma Legislature requires school districts to adopt a policy to prevent harassment, intimidation, and bullying in an effort to “create an environment free of unnecessary disruption” and also requires districts to actively pursue programs for education regarding bullying behaviors.
Grove schools’ student conduct code prohibits harassment, intimidation, and bullying. This policy further explains the negative effects of that behavior and seeks to promote strategies for prevention.
Statement of Board Purpose in Adopting Policy
The Grove Board of Education recognizes that intimidation, harassment, and bullying of student’s causes serious educational and personal problems, both for the student-victim and the initiator of the intimidation, harassment, and/or bullying. The board observes that this conduct:
- Has been shown by national and state studies to have a substantial adverse effect upon school district operations, the safety of students and faculty, and the educational system at large.
- Substantially disrupts school operations by interfering with the district’s mission to instruct students in an atmosphere free from fear; is disruptive of school efforts to encourage students to remain in school until graduation; and is just as disruptive of the school’s efforts to prepare students for productive lives in the community as they become adults.
- Substantially disrupts healthy student behavior and, thereby, academic achievement. Research indicates that healthy student behavior results in increased student academic achievement. Improvement in student behavior through the prevention or minimization of intimidation, harassment, and bullying towards student-victims simultaneously supports the district’s primary and substantial interest in operating schools that foster and promote academic achievement.
- Substantially interferes with school compliance with federal law that seeks to maximize the mainstreaming of students with disabilities and hinders compliance with Individual Education Programs containing objectives to increase that socialization of students with disabilities. Targets of bullying are often students with known physical or mental disabilities who, as a result, are perceived by bullies as easy targets for bullying actions.
- Substantially interferes with the district’s mission to advance the social skills and social and emotional well being of students. Targets of intimidation, harassment, bullying are often:
- “Passive-target” students who already are lacking in social skills because they tend to be extremely sensitive and/or shy and display insecurity, anxiety, and/or stress.
- May have experienced a traumatic event;
- May try to use gifts, toys, money, or class assignments of performance bribes to protect themselves from intimidation, harassment, or bullying;
- Small for their age and feel vulnerable to bullying acts; and/or
HARASSMENT (Cont.)
E. May resort to carrying weapons to school for self-protection.
Passive-target victims, who have been harassed and demeaned by the behavior of bullies, often respond by striving to obtain power over others by becoming bullies themselves and are specifically prone to develop into students who eventually inflict serious physical harm on other students, or, in an effort to gain power over their life or situation, commit suicide.
6. Substantially disrupts school operations by increasing violent acts committed against fellow students. Violence, in this context, is frequently accompanied by criminal acts.
7. Substantially disrupts school operations by interfering with the reasonable expectations of other students that they can feel secure at school and not be subjected to frightening acts or be the victim of mistreatment resulting form bullying behavior.
Bullying, harassing, and intimidating behavior often involves expressive gestures, speech, physical acts that are sexually suggestive, lewd, vulgar, profane, or offensive to the education or social mission of the district and at times involves the commission of criminal acts. This behavior interferes with the curriculum by disrupting the presentation instruction and also disrupts and interferes with the student-victim’s or bystander’s ability to concentrate, retain in a reluctance or resistance to attending school.
Definition of Terms
- Statutory definition of harassment, intimidation, and bullying: As used in the School Bullying Prevention Act [70 O.S. §24-100.3(C)], “harassment, intimidation, and bullying” includes, but is not limited to , any gesture, written or verbal expression, or physical act that a reasonable person should recognize will harm another student, damage another student’s property, place another student in reasonable fear or harm to the student’s person or damage to the students property, or insult or demean any student or group of students in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school’s educational mission or the education of any student.
- The “Reasonable Person” Standard: In determining what a “reasonable person” should recognize as an act of placing a student in “reasonable” fear of harm, district staff will determine “reasonableness” not only from the point of view of a mature adult, but also from the point of view of an immature child of the age of the intended victim along with, but not limited to:
- Consideration of special emotional, physical, or mental needs of the particular child;
- Personality or physical characteristics, or history that might cause the child to be particularly sensitive to efforts by a bully to humiliate, embarrass or lower the self-esteem of the victim; and
- The discipline history, personality of, and physical characteristics of the individual alleged to have engaged in the prohibited behavior.
- General display of bullying acts: For the purpose pf this section of this policy, bullying includes harassment and intimidation, and vice versa. According to experts in the field, bullying, in general, is the exploitation of a
Harassment (Cont.)
Less powerful person by an individual taking unfair advantage of that person, which is repeated over time and which inflicts a negative effect on the victim. The seriousness of a bullying act depends on the farm inflicted upon the victim and the frequency of the offensive acts. Power may be, but is mot limited to, physical strength, social skill, verbal ability, or other characteristics. Bullying acts by students have been described in several different categories.
- Physical Bullying includes harm or threatened harm to another’s body or property, including, but not limited to, what would reasonably be foreseen as a serious expression of intent to inflict physical harm or property damage through verbal or written speech or gestures directed at the student-victim, when considering the factual circumstances in which the threat was made and the reaction of the intended victim. Common acts include tripping, hitting, pushing, pinching, pulling hair, kicking, biting, starting fights, daring others to fight, stealing or destroying property, extortion, assaults with a weapon, other violent acts, and homicide.
- Emotional Bullying includes the intentional infliction of harm to another’s self-esteem, including, but not limited to, insulting or profane remarks, insulting or profane gestures, or harassing and frightening statements, when such events are considered in light of the surrounding facts, the history of the students involved, and the age(s), maturity, and special characteristics of the students.
- Social Bullying includes harm to another’s group acceptance, including, but not limited to:
- Harm resulting from intentionally gossiping about another student or intentionally spreading negative rumors about another student that result in the victim being excluded from a school activity or student group;
- The intentional planning and/or implementation of acts or statements that inflict public humiliation upon a student;
- The intentional undermining of current relationships of the student-victim through the spreading of untrue gossip or rumors designed to humiliate or embarrass the student; the use of gossip, rumors, or humiliating acts designed to deprive the student of awards, recognition, or involvement in school activities;
- The false or malicious spreading of an untrue statement or statement about another student that exposes the victim to contempt or ridicule the victim of the confidence and respect of student peers; or
- The making of false statements to others that the student has committed a crime, or has an infectious, contagious, or loathsome disease, or similar egregious representations.
- Sexual Bullying includes harm to another resulting from, but not limited to:
Making unwelcome sexual comments about the student: making vulgar, profane, or lewd comments or drawings or graffiti about the victim;
HARASSMENT (Cont.)
2. Directing vulgar, profane, or lewd gestures toward the victim; committing physical acts of a sexual nature at school, including the fondling or touching of private parts of the victim’s body:
3. Participation in the gossiping or spreading of false rumors about the student’s sexual life;
4. Written or verbal statements directed at the victim that would reasonably be interpreted as a serious threat to force the victim to commit sexual assault the victim when considering the factual circumstances in which the threat was made and the reaction of the intended victim;
5. Off campus dating violence by a student that adversely affects the victims school performance or behavior, attendance, participation in school functions or extracurricular activities, or makes the victim fearful at school of the assaulting bully; or the commission of sexual assault, rape, or homicide.
Such conduct may also constitute sexual harassment, which is also prohibited by this district. (See also policy FB.)
Procedures Applicable to the Understanding of and Prevention of Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying of Students
- Student and Staff Education and Training: all district staff will be provided with a copy of this policy. All students will be provided a summary of the policy and notice that a copy of the entire policy is available upon request. The district is committed to providing appropriate and relevant training to staff regarding identification of behavior constituting harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students and the prevention and management of such conduct.
Like staff members, students shall participate in an annual education program which sets out expectations for student behavior and emphasizes an understanding of harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students; the district’s prohibition of such conduct; and the reasons why the conduct is destructive, unacceptable, and will lead to discipline. Students shall also be informed of the consequences of bullying conduct toward their peers.
- Safe School Committees: The district’s safe schools committees have the responsibility of studying and making recommendations regarding unsafe conditions, strategies for students to avoid harm at school, student victimization, crime prevention, school violence, and other issues that interfere with and adversely affect the maintenance of safe schools. (See also policy CK and CK-R)
With respect to student harassment, intimidation, and bullying, the safe schools committees shall consider and make recommendations regarding professional staff development needs of faculty and other staff related to methods to decrease student harassment, intimidation, and bullying and understanding and identifying bullying behaviors. In addition, the committees shall make recommendations regarding identification of methods to encourage the involvement of the community and students in addressing conduct involving bullying, methods to enhance relationships between students and school staff in order to strengthen communication, and fashioning of problem-solving teams that include counselors and /or school psychologists.
In accomplishing their objectives, the committees shall review traditional and accepted harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention programs utilized by other states, state agencies, or school districts.
HARASSMENT (Cont.)
Student Reporting
Students are encouraged to inform school personnel if they are victims of or witnesses to acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.
Staff Reporting
Am important duty of the staff is to report acts or behavior that an employee witnesses that appears to constitute harassing, intimidating, or bullying. Employees, whether certified or non-certified, shall encourage students who tell them about such acts that may constitute intimidation, harassment, or bullying, to complete a report form. For young students, staff members given that information will need to provide direct assistance to the student.
Staff members who witness such events are to complete reports and to submit them to the employee designated by the principal to receive them. Staff members who hear of incidents that may, in the staff member’s judgment, constitute harassment, intimidation, or bullying, are to report all relevant information to the building principal or his/her designee.
Parental Responsibilities
Parents/guardians will be informed in writing of the district’s program to stop intimidation, harassment, and bullying. An administrative response to a reported act of intimidation, harassment, or bullying may involve certain actions to be taken by parents. Parents will also be told that, to help prevent bullying at school, they should encourage their children to:
- Report bullying when it occurs;
- Take advantage of opportunities to talk to their children about bullying;
- Inform the school immediately if they think their child is being bullied or is bullying other students;
- Watch for symptoms that their child may be a victim of bullying and report those symptoms; and
- Cooperate fully with school personnel in identifying and resolving incidents.
Reference: 21 O.S. §850.0
70 O.S. §24-100.2
CROSS-REGERENCE: Policy KC, Safety Program
Policy DDA-R, Racial Harassment
Policy FB, Sexual Harassment of Students
Policy FBA, Grievance Procedure, Sex
Discrimination/Harassment
Policy FBB, Student Complaints and Grievances
Policy FNCC, Hazing
Policy FO-R4, Student Discipline, Threatening
Behavior, Regulation
Anti-Bullying Pledge - Faculty
We the faculty of agree to join together to stamp out bullying at our school. We believe that everybody should enjoy our school equally, and feel safe, secure and accepted regardless of color, race, gender, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, religion, and nationality.
Bullying can be pushing, shoving, hitting, and spitting, as well as name calling, picking on, making fun of, laughing at, and excluding someone. Bullying causes pain and stress to victims and is never justified or excusable as “kids being kids,” “just teasing” or any other rationalization. The victim is never responsible for being a target for bullying.
By signing this pledge, we, the school and faculty agree to:
- Develop a clear school policy on bullying and display it prominently in classrooms and around the school.
- Train faculty in appropriate handling of incidents.
- Develop or adopt a curriculum that educates students about bullying.
- Teach students about less obvious forms of bullying like gossiping and exclusion.
- Discuss proactive anti-bullying measures (such as having lunch with a student who has been excluded in the past) with students
- Establish support systems for pupil involved in incidents such as peer counseling and mediation.
- Establish a system to support and inform parents when incidents of bullying occur.
- Offer counseling to students who bully.
- Insure an atmosphere where students feel safe reporting incidents of bullying and confident they will be dealt with and not ignored. Allow “no relation” upon those who report.
- Report all incidents of bullying immediately to the principal. Document incidents.
- Allow all students involved the opportunity to give their version of the incident when an incident is reported.
- Put in place sanctions for bullying such as verbal warnings, removal from a classroom or school grounds, a verbal or written apology to the victim, a parent teacher meeting, and detention of expulsion for repeat offenders and an educational component, like research report.
- Monitor cases of persistent bullying and be fully informed of all incidents and their progress.
Signed by: ______________________________________
Print Name: _____________________________________
Date: ______________________
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