Anti- Bullying & Anti- Harassment

Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Bullying, and Terrorist Threat

 

No student shall engage in harassing behavior, sexual or otherwise, toward another student or staff member. Harassment includes willful engagement in unwelcome verbal or physical behavior that creates a hostile environment for another person or group of people. Included, but not limited to: words, touching, gestures, notes, pictures, signs, posturing, or any other behavior that creates a hostile or threatening environment including through social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

 

  ANTI-BULLYING POLICY

 

1. A safe and respectful environment in school is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards. Harassment or bullying, like other disruptive or violent behaviors, is conduct that disrupts both a student’s ability to learn and a school’s ability to educate its students in a safe environment. Demonstration of appropriate behavior, treating others with civility and respect, and refusing to tolerate harassment or bullying is expected of administrators, faculty, staff, and volunteers to provide positive examples for student behavior.

2. “Harassment or bullying” is any gesture or written, verbal, graphic, or physical act (including electronically transmitted acts – e.g. internet, cell phone, personal digital assistant (pda), or wireless hand-held device) that is reasonably perceived as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression; or a mental, physical, or sensory disability or impairment; or by any other distinguishing characteristic. Such behavior is considered harassment or bullying whether it takes place on or off school property, at any school-sponsored function, or in a school vehicle.  

3. “Harassment” and “bullying” are conduct that meet all of the following criteria:

• is directed at one or more pupils;

• substantially interferes with educational opportunities, benefits, or programs of one or more pupils;

• adversely affects the ability of a pupil to participate in or benefit from the school’s educational programs or activities because the conduct, as reasonably perceived by the pupil, is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive as to have this effect; and,

• is based on a pupil’s actual or perceived distinguishing characteristic, or is based on an association with another person who has or is perceived to have any of these characteristics.

5. Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner in keeping with their levels of development, maturity, and demonstrated capabilities with a proper regard for the rights and welfare of other students, school staff, volunteers, and visitors.

6. The best discipline is self-imposed; it is the responsibility of staff to use disciplinary situations as opportunities for helping students learn to assume responsibility and the consequences of their behavior. Staff members who interact with students shall apply best practices designed to prevent discipline problems and encourage students’ abilities to develop self-discipline.

7. Since bystander support of harassment or bullying can support these behaviors, both active and passive support for acts of harassment or bullying is prohibited. The staff should encourage students to support students who walk away from these acts when they see them, constructively attempt to stop them, or report them to the designated authority.

8. Reprisal or retaliation against any person who reports an act of harassment or bullying is prohibited. The consequences and appropriate remedial action for a person who engages in reprisal or retaliation shall be determined by the administrator after consideration of the nature, severity, and circumstances of the act.

9. False accusation of another as a means of harassment or bullying is prohibited.

10. Consequences for a student who commits an act of harassment or bullying shall be unique to the individual incident and will vary in method and severity according to the nature of the behavior, the developmental age of the student, and the student’s history of problem behaviors and performance.

11. Remedial measures shall be designed to correct the problem behavior; prevent another occurrence of the behavior; and protect the victim of the act.

12. Reports may be made anonymously, but formal disciplinary action may not be based solely on the basis of an anonymous report.