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Anti-Bullying Task Force

What You & Your Child Need to Know About Bullying
 
WHAT IS BULLYING?
 
BULLYING AMONG CHILDREN IS AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR THAT IS INTENTIONAL AND THAT INVOLVES AN IMBALANCE OF POWER AND STRENGTH. TYPICALLY, IT IS REPEATED OVER TIME. BULLYING CAN TAKE MANY FORMS SUCH AS HITTING OR PUNCHING (PHYSICAL BULLYING); TEASING OR NAME-CALLING (VERBAL BULLYING); INTIMIDATION THROUGH GESTURES OR SOCIAL EXCLUSION (NON-VERBAL BULLYING OR EMOTIONAL BULLYING); AND USING TECHNOLOGY TO SEND INSULTING, OR THREATENING MESSAGES (CYBER-BULLYING).
 
DIFFERENT FORMS OR KINDS OF BULLYING:
 
  • BEING VERBALLY BULLIED
  • BEING SOCIALLY EXCLUDED OR ISOLATED
  • BEING PHYSICALLY BULLIED
  • HAVING MONEY OR OTHER THINGS TAKEN OR DAMAGED
  • RACIAL BULLYING
  • SEXUAL BULLYING
  • CYBER-BULLYING
 
HOW PREVALANT IS BULLYING?
 
  • IN THE FIRST NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE US STUDY OF BULLYING, WHICH INCLUDED MORE THAN 15,000 STUDENTS IN GRADES 6-10, RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT 17% OF STUDENTS REPORTED HAVING BEEN BULLIED “ SOMETIMES” OR MORE OFTEN DURING THE SCHOOL TERM, AND 8% HAD BEEN BULLIED AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. NINETEEN PERCENT HAD BULLIED OTHERS “SOMETIMES” OR MORE OFTEN DURINGTHE TERM, AND 9% HAD BULLIED OTHER STUDENTS AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK- (OLWEUS, 1993)
 
CONSEQUENCES OF BULLYING
 
  • STRESSES OF BEING BULLIED CAN INTERFERE WITH STUDENT’S ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING IN SCHOOL (NEA TODAY, 1999)
  • CHILDREN AND YOUTH WHO ARE BULLIED ARE MORE LIKELY THAN OTHER CHILDREN TO BE DEPRESSED, LONELY, ANXIOUS, HAVE LOW SELF-ESTEEM, FEEL UNWELL, AND THINK ABOUT SUICIDE (LIMBER, 2002; OLWEUS, 1993)
  • STUDENTS WHO ARE BULLIED MAY FEAR GOING TO SCHOOL, USING THE BATHROOM, AND RIDING ON THE BUS (NEA, 2003)
  • IN A SURVEY OF 3RD-8TH GRADERS IN 14 MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS, MORE THAN 14% REPORTED THAT THEY WERE OFTEN AFRAID OF BEING BULLIED (MULLIN-RINDLER, 2003)
  • RESEARCH SHOWS THAT BULLYING CAN BE A SIGN OF OTHER ANTI-SOCIAL OR VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. CHILDREN AND YOUTH WHO FREQUENTLY BULLY THEIR PEERS ARE MORE LIKELY THAN OTHERS TO GET INTO FREQUENT FIGHTS, BE INJURED IN A FIGHT, VANDALIZE OR STEAL PROPERTY, DRINK ALCOHOL, SMOKE, BE TRUANT FROM SCHOOL, DROP OUT OF SCHOOL, AND CARRY A WEAPON (NANSEL et al; 200, OLWEUS, 1993)
  • BULLYING ALSO HAS AN IMPACT ON OTHER STUDENTS AT SCHOOL WHO ARE BYSTANDERS TO BULLYING (BANKS, 1997). BULLYING CREATES A CLIMATE OF FEAR AND DISRESPECT IN SCHOOLS AND HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING (NEA, 2003)
 
BULLYING PREVENTIONS
 
  • NO NAME-CALLING WEEK 
 
NO NAME –CALLING WEEK, JANUARY 21-24, 2014, IS AN ANNUAL WEEK OF EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AIMED AT ENDING NAME-CALLILNG OF ALL KINDS AND PROVIDING SCHOOLS WITH THE TOOLS AND INSPIRATION TO LAUNCH AN ON-GOING DIALOGUE ABOUT WAYS TO ELIMATE BULLYING IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.
WEEK IS OBSERVED BY DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
 
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) STUDENTS.
 
CREATING A SAFE SPACE THAT IS WELCOMING AND SUPPORTIVE OF (LGBT) STUDENTS. MOST (LGBT) STUDENTS FREQUENTLY HEAR ANIT-LGBT LANGUAGE AND EXPERIENCE HARASSMENT, BULLYING & INTIMIDATION RELATED TO THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER EXPRESSION.
 
DISTRICT HAS OFFERED (2) WORKSHOPS TO SELECTED DISTRICT STAFF.
 
CYBER-BULLYING IS:
 
USING E-MAIL, TEXT MESSAGES, BLOGS, VIDEOS, WEBSITES, CELLPHONES, SOCIAL- NETWORKING OR GAMING SITES TO EMBARRASS, HARASS OR BULLY ANOTHER PERSON. IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS E-BULLYING.
 
SEVERAL WORKSHOPS HAVE BEEN PRESENTED TO DISTRICT STAFF.
 
  • SCHOOL VIOLENCE AWARENESS WEEK
 
DISTRICT SCHOOLS OBSERVED VIOLENCE AWARENESS WEEK DURING OCTOBER 18-22, 2010. STUDENTS WERE ENGAGED IN ANTI-VIOLENCE ACTIVITIES AND PARTICIPATED IN WORKSHOPS IN ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS.
 
  • PEACE MONTHS
 
PEACE MONTH IS OBSERVED STARTING FROM MARTIN LUTHER KING’S BIRTHDAY
 
JANUARY 21, 2014 TO VALENTINE’S DAY (FEBRUARY 21, 2014). DURING THE PEACE MONTH, STUDENTS ARE ENGAGED IN ACTIVITIES, WORKSHOPS AND ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS THAT TEACH THEM HOW TO RESOLVE THEIR DIFFERENCES/PROBLEMS IN A PEACEFUL MANNER.
 
  • CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEER MEDIATION
 
ELEMENTARY / MIDDLE SCHOOLS HAVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEER MEDIATION PROGRAMS THAT TEACH STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH CONFLICTS AMONG STUDENTS. IT IS ALSO USED TO ADDRESS BULLYING PROBLEMS.
 
  • SCHOOLS HAVE IMPLEMENTED THE BOARD APPROVED HARASSMENT, INTIMIDATION AND BULLYING POLICY AND PROCEDURES (HIB).
 
  • THE DISTRICT (HIB) POLICY WILL BE REVIEWED AND REVISED TO COMPLY WITH THE NEW ANTI-BULLYING LEGISLATION RECENTLY SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE.