Bullying, Discrimination, Harassment and Intimidation Policy & Procedures

Valentine Elementary School Bullying, Discrimination,

Harassment and Intimidation

Policy & Procedures

Purpose

Our Valentine Elementary School community is committed to making our school a safe, secure and peaceful place for all students. We will treat each other with respect, and we will refuse to allow bullying at our school.

Definition of Bullying

Bullying is mean or hurtful behavior that keeps happening. It is unfair and one-sided. Bullying is aggressive behavior that is usually repeated over time, occurs in a relationship where there is an imbalance of power, and intends to cause harm or distress and/or has a serious harmful or distressing impact on the targeted student(s).

California Education Code defines bullying as follows:

(1) “Bullying” means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonable predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following:

(A) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that pupil’s or those pupils’ person or property.

(B) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.

(D) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with is or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by the school.

Scope of Protection

Our school’s consequences for bullying, discrimination, harassment and intimidation apply to all acts related to school activity or school attendance occurring within the jurisdiction of our district superintendent.

On school grounds: Immediately before or after school hours, during school hours, or at any other time when the school is being used by a school group.

Off school grounds: At a school activity, function, or event

When traveling: To or from a school activity, function or event

Reporting Procedures

It is our school’s expectation that all bullying incidents will be reported.

All school personnel who witness an act of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, shall take immediate steps to intervene when safe to do so and report immediately to the principal or assistant principal.
Teachers witnessing or who become aware of a bullying situation should address it right away; many time the situation can be rectified before it requires complicated interventions.
Referrals may also be made to our school counselor or school psychologist.

Investigating and Responding

Teachers and staff will:

Closely supervise students in all areas of the school and playground during school hours.
Watch for signs of bullying and stop it when it happens.
Respond quickly and sensitively to bullying reports to ensure the safety of all students involved.
Look into all reported bullying incidents.
Assign consequences for bullying based on our school’s discipline code.
Provide immediate consequences for those who retaliate against students who report bullying or provide witness information.
Students knowingly making false accusations of bullying will be subject to disciplinary action.

Once a bullying report is received, our school’s administration will conduct an investigation within three school days. If it is determined that bullying has occurred as defined in our policy, our school’s administration will:

Take appropriate disciplinary action.
Notify the family/families of the bullied student(s).
Notify the family/families of the student(s) who bullied
Create a safety plan for the bullied student.
Create a behavior change plan for the student who bullied.

An appeal of the resolution of any complaint may be made to the School District Superintendent or his/her designee.

All complainants will be protected from retaliation and the identity of a complainant alleging discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying will remain confidential, as appropriate.

Written Records

Written records of all bullying incidents and their resolution must be maintained for the period of time required by law.

Consequences

There will be consequences and appropriate remedial action for those involved in bullying, discrimination, harassment, intimidation including any act of retaliation against a student for reporting. The developmental maturity levels of the parties, the levels of harm, the reasons surrounding the incident, the nature of the bullying, discrimination, harassment and intimidation, the context in which the alleged incidents occurred, the relationships between the students, and the past history of the parties involved should be considered when determining consequences.

Our school will consider our hierarchy of consequences in determining consequences.

Training & Prevention Education

Our school takes a proactive approach to dealing with bullying by providing the following training and prevention education for our students and staff:

Social skills lessons are a regular part of the curriculum at our school. The Second Step program and its Bullying Prevention Unit are taught in all grade levels.
Staff go through the Bullying Prevention Unit online training on recognizing and responding to bullying effectively.