Bullying In Our School

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by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski 

With the amount of time spent on the concept of Home Court Advantage (safety, support & belonging) I would like to think bullying does not take place in our school; but according to a new student study released this week, over half of all high school students admit to bullying someone in the past year and more than half said they have been a victim of bullying. Granted we have a great school with exceptional kids, but that doesn't exempt them from being normal.

After researching the types of issues that are affiliated with bullying, I believe our system needs to take a bold stand in addressing this behavior. Current school policy 3005 Harassment, Intimidation, Hazing and Bullying of Students Prohibited provides a definition:

Harassment, intimidation, or bullying means any act that substantially interferes with a student’s educational benefits, opportunities, or performance, that takes place on or immediately adjacent to school grounds, at any school-sponsored activity, on school-provided transportation, or at any official school bus stop, and that has the effect of:

· physically harming a student or damaging a student’s property;

· knowingly placing a student in reasonable fear of physical harm to the student or damage to the student’s property; or

· creating a hostile educational environment.

The Policy goes on to say there are many forms of bullying; however, it doesn't clearly define all forms such as indirect bullying. Indirect bullying is more difficult to identify; therefore, I would like to share an additional definition of bullying that exemplifies the broader concept.

The National School Safety Center defines bullying in the following:

Bullying is a form of violence that hurts others. School bullying happens at school or during school-sponsored activities when a student or group of students intentionally and repeatedly uses their power to hurt other individuals or groups. Bullies’ power can come from their physical strength, age, financial status, popularity, social status, technology skills, or by association (the people they know, who they hang out with, who their family is).

What do bullies do?

They can bully in direct ways, such as: • hitting, tripping, shoving, pinching, excessive tickling; • verbal threats, name calling, racial slurs, insults; • demanding money, property, service; and • stabbing, choking, burning and shooting.

They can also bully in indirect ways, such as: • rejecting, excluding, isolating; • ranking or rating, humiliating; • manipulating friends and relationships;
• writing hurtful or threatening e-mails and postings on web sites; and • blackmailing, terrorizing, and proposing dangerous dares.

Do boys and girls bully in different ways?

Traditionally, boys tended to bully in direct and physical ways, and girls tended to bully in emotional or indirect ways. However, influences, such as media, technology and new forms of social power, are beginning to blur the gender lines.

Other things to know about bullying:

• Some students are bullies; others are targets of bullying. • A student can be both a target and a bully at the same time. • Some students are bystanders; bystanders can be either passive or active. • Some acts of bullying at school can result in suspension and/or expulsion. • Bullying breaks the law when it becomes stealing, assault and battery, extortion, sexual harassment, hate crimes and other criminal acts. • Administrators, teachers, school staff, students and parents must accept the responsibility to recognize, report and/or intervene with bullying when it occurs. • Bullying that goes unchecked tends to escalate into more serious forms of bullying or even criminal behavior.

Direct bullying doesn't seem to be as prevalent as indirect bullying in this day and age; however, both are wrong and need to be addressed. Being sneaky and cleaver will no longer excuse the consequences of bullying behavior. Bullying hurts others. Here at Mission, we will soon provide professional development opportunities to help staff identify both direct and indirect bullying. We will put bullying on our school and staff's radar to provide the safety, support and belonging every child deserves. If you would like to learn more about bullying go to the Bullying Fact Sheet Series provided by the National School Safety Center.

For additional resources, here are some books to consider: Odd Girl Out, The hidden aggression in girls by Rachel Simmons; Bullying in Secondary Schools, What it looks like and how to manage it by Keith Sullivan, Mark Cleary & Ginny Sullivan. These are just two of many books available. Helping children overcome the obstacles of bullying goes beyond the school. As the educational institution in St. Ignatius, we want to do everything possible to stop bullying and help our students overcome these realities of childhood and adolescence.

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