Anti-Bullying

The Sandyston-Walpack Board of Education believes that all students and adults in our school community must be tolerant and respectful of one another. Therefore, harassment, intimidation, and bullying will not be tolerated. “Harassment, intimidation, or bullying” means any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it is a single incident or a series of incidents, that

a. is reasonably perceived as being motivated by race, color, religion, ancestry, mental, physical or sensory disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity and expression, or other distinguishing characteristic;

b. takes place on school property, at any school-sponsored function, on a school bus, or off school grounds;

c. substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other pupils; and

d. results in one or more of the following:

• a reasonable person should know under the circumstances will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a pupil or damaging the pupil’s property, or placing a pupil in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his/her person or damage to his/her property; or

• has the effect of insulting or demeaning any pupil or group of pupils; or

• creates a hostile educational environment for the pupil by interfering with a pupil’s education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the pupil.

HIB reporting forms are located in the school lobby and on the website. All HIB reports are investigated by the Anti-Bullying Specialists. Sometimes incidents that are reported as HIB are deemed code of conduct violations after being investigated because they do not meet the criteria of HIB as defined above. If the incident is deemed either a code of conduct violation or HIB, disciplinary measures will be imposed. Some incidents may be unsubstantiated as a result of the investigation. The Chief School Administrator reviews all HIB reports with the Board of Education. Consequences are imposed on students who commit acts of HIB and remedial measures are implemented for both the bully and target. Individual students’ needs (e.g., grade levels, abilities, and backgrounds) must be taken into consideration when imposing consequences and remediations.