Bullying and Harrassment

“Bullying” means any written or oral expression, or physical or electronic act or gesture, including cyber-bullying, that meets all of the following characteristics:

• Is intentional, repeated or likely to be repeated, and marked by an imbalance of power, including physical, social, or socio-economic power; and

• Is intended to coerce, intimidate, or cause any physical, mental, or emotional harm to any student; and

• Is sufficiently severe that it has the effect of:

  •  Creating an intimidating, hostile, or significantly offensive environment for the learning or performance of school-sanctioned activities of any student; or

  • Unreasonably interfering with or disrupting the educational performance or participation in any other school-sanctioned activity of any student.

Bullying can begin as early as kindergarten and continue through adolescence. On and off school property bullying can have adverse effects on student physical, mental and emotional health and academics.

 The following types of bullying are most common among children and adolescents and typically co-occur.

• Physical—includes hitting, kicking, pinching, punching, scratching, spitting, other physical aggression, and damage to or theft of someone else’s belongings.

• Verbal—includes name-calling; insults; racist, sexist, or homophobic jokes, remarks, or teasing; use of sexually suggestive or abusive language; threats of violence; and offensive remarks.

• Relational/social—includes spreading untrue stories about someone, excluding someone from social groups (social isolation), and being made the subject of malicious rumors.

• Cyberbullying—covers any type of bullying that is carried out via an electronic medium such as text messaging, cell phone calls, pictures or video clips via mobile phone cameras, email, chat rooms, social networking sites and apps, and other websites.