What does Bullying Look Like/Who is a Bully?

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What does Bullying Look Like/Who is a Bully?
Houston Independent School District
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OBJECTIVES

• To inform faculty, staff, and parents about the
  seriousness of bullying and ways it can be
  prevented.
• To create caring and collaborative communities in
  the classroom.
• To provide a safe school culture for all
  students.
• To give students strategies on what to do if they
  are bullied or threatened.
• To incorporate character lessons into the
  curriculum to teach students about bullying
  issues and the value of being kind to one
  another.
• To teach children what to do if they see someone
  other than themselves being victimized by a
  bully.
• To engage students in ethical conversations.
• To provide resources in order to gain more
  information on bullying issues.

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HISD CODE OF CONDUCT-HARASSMENT/BULLYING/CYBERBULL
YING/OTHER TYPES OF HARASSMENT

• Level III Offenses-Required Suspension/Discretiona
  ry DAEP Removal
• Harassment/dating violence, including threatening
  to cause harm or bodily injury to another
  student, engaging in sexually intimidating
  conduct, causing physical damage to the property
  of another student, subjecting another student to
  physical confinement or restraint, or maliciously
  taking any action that substantially harms
  another students physical or emotional health.
  p. 07
• Any verbal abuse or bullying of others, including
  slurs, name calling,
• or derogatory statements to another person
  because of that persons
• race, color, religion, national origin,
  disability, physical/personal
• appearance, or sexual orientation. Bullying is
  defined as any act or speech that subjects
  persons to indignity, humiliation, intimidation,
  physical abuse or threat of physical abuse,
  social or other isolation, shame, or disgrace. p.
  8

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HISD CODE OF CONDUCT-HARASSMENT/BULLYING/CYBERBULL
YING/OTHER TYPES OF HARASSMENT cont

• Level III Offenses-Required Suspension/Discretiona
  ry DAEP Removal
• Any verbal abuse or bullying of others, including
  but limited to slurs, name-calling, or derogatory
  statements to another person because of the
  persons race, color, religion, national origin,
  disability, physical/personal appearance, or
  sexual orientation. Bullying is defined as any
  act or speech that subjects persons to indignity,
  humiliation, intimidation, physical abuse or
  threat of physical abuse, social or other
  isolation, shame or disgrace.
• Cyber-bullying, defined as the use of the Inter,
  cell phones, or other devices to send, post, or
  text-message images and material intended to hurt
  or embarrass another person. This may included,
  but is not limited to, continuing to send email
  to someone who has said he or she wants no
  further contact with the sender sending or
  posting threats, sexual remarks, or pejorative
  labels (i.e. hate speech) ganging up on victims
  by making them the subject of ridicule in forums
  and posting false statements as fact intended to
  humiliate the victim disclosure of personal data
  such as the victims real name, address, or
  school on Web sites or forums posing as the
  victim for the purpose of publishing material in
  his or her name that defames or ridicules him or
  her sending threatening and harassing text,
  instant messages, or e-mails to the victim and
  posting or sending rumors or gossip to instigate
  others to dislike and gang up on the target ,
  which is determined to have a material and
  substantial interference with school activities
  or with the rights of students and teachers. p.
  8

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HISD CODE OF CONDUCT-HARASSMENT/BULLYING/CYBERBULL
YING/OTHER TYPES OF HARASSMENT

• Students Rights and Responsibilities Sexual
  Harassment/Sexual Abuse/Dating Violence
• Other Types of Harassment
• The district encourages all students and staff
  members to foster a climate of mutual respect for
  others in order to enhance the districts
  educational purpose and the program designed to
  achieve that purpose. Each student is expected to
  respect the rights and privileges of other
  students, teachers, and district staff members.
  Students shall not engage in harassment motivated
  by race, color, religion, national origin, or
  disability and directed toward another student. A
  substantiated charge of harassment against a
  student shall result in disciplinary action.

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HISD CODE OF CONDUCT-HARASSMENT/BULLYING/CYBERBULL
YING/OTHER TYPES OF HARASSMENT cont

• Students Rights and Responsibilities Sexual
  Harassment/Sexual Abuse/Dating Violence
• Other Types of Harassment
• The term harassment includes repeated,
  unwelcome, and offensive slurs, jokes, or other
  oral, written, graphic, or physical conduct
  relating to an individuals race, color,
  religion, national origin, or disability that
  creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
  educational environment. Students who believe
  they have been harassed by fellow students or
  district employees are encouraged to promptly
  report such incidents to the campus principal. If
  the campus principal is the subject of a
  complaint, the student shall report the complaint
  directly to the appropriate elementary-, middle-,
  or high-school chief schools officer or
  designated administrator.

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HISD CODE OF CONDUCT-HARASSMENT/BULLYING/CYBERBULL
YING/OTHER TYPES OF HARASSMENT cont

• Students Rights and Responsibilities Sexual
  Harassment/Sexual Abuse/Dating Violence
• Other Types of Harassment
• Any allegations of harassment of students shall
  be investigated and addressed promptly. Oral
  complaints shall be reduced to writing to assist
  in the districts investigation. To the greatest
  extent possible, complaints shall be treated as
  confidential. However, limited disclosure may be
  necessary to complete a thorough investigation. A
  parent or student may appeal the decision of the
  principal regarding the outcome of the
  investigation into the allegations. Information
  on the procedure for appealing the decision of
  the principal to the chief schools officer or the
  superintendents designee and to the board is
  explained in Board Policy FNG(LOCAL).

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• One incident of bullying occurs every seven
  minutes
• Adult intervention occurs in 4 of incidents  
• Peer intervention occurs in 11 of incidents  
• No intervention occurs in 85 of incidents
• Bullying is common to see among and occurs at all
  ages, but is most prevalent during the middle
  school years.

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What is Bullying?

• The behavior is intended to harm or disturb
• Behavior occurs repeatedly over time
• There is a real or perceived imbalance of power

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What Is Bullying?

• Physical or psychological intimidation that
  occurs repeatedly over time
• Bullying can be overt (i.e., teasing, hitting, or
  stealing) boys are most often overt bullies
• Bullying can be covert (i.e., spreading rumors or
  exclusion) girls are most often covert bullies

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Direct Bullying (Physical)

• Hitting, kicking, shoving, spitting
• Taunting, teasing, racial slurs, verbal
  harassment
• Threatening, obscene gestures

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Indirect BullyingRelational , emotional or verbal

• Getting another person to bully someone for you
• Spreading rumors
• Deliberately excluding someone from a group or
  activity
• Cyber-bullying

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How common is bullying?

• Nansel et al. (2001) national sample of 15,600
  students in grades 6-10
• 19 bullied others sometimes or more often
• 9 bullied others weekly
• 17 were bullied sometimes or more often
• 8 were bullied weekly
• 6 reported bullying and being bullied
  sometimes or more often

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Who Are Bullies?

• Children who bully typically demonstrate a strong
  sense of self-esteem
• They like to feel powerful and in control

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Who Are Bullies? (continued)

• Bullies often come from homes that use extreme
  physical punishment to discipline
• Caregivers of bullies are typically uninvolved
  and lack warmth
• Children who bully are often defiant toward
  authority figures and are apt to break rules

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Who Are The Victims of Bullying?

• Parents of children who will be bullied are often
  overprotective or enmeshed with their children
• Children who will be bullied perceive parent or
  teacher intervention to be ineffective and are
  unlikely to report the problem

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Children Who Bully are More Likely to

• Get into frequent fights
• Be injured in a fight
• Steal, vandalize property
• Drink alcohol
• Smoke
• Be truant, drop out of school
• Report poorer academic achievement
• Perceive a negative climate at school
• Carry a weapon

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Who Are The Victims of Bullying?

• Children who will be bullied are often insecure,
  socially isolated, anxious, and have low
  self-esteem
• They tend to be weaker than their peers

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Who are the Victims of Bullies?

• Can belong to another race or be a member of a
  special interest group (GLBTQ)
• Members of a different religion or belief system.
• New student at school
• Different style

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Long-term Implications of Bullying

• Not only are children who are bullies are likely
  experience legal or criminal problems as adults,
  but they are likely to carry bullying behaviors
  into adulthood and experience difficulty in
  forming and maintaining relationships

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Gender Differences in Bullying

• Most studies find that boys bully more than do
  girls
• Boys report being bullied by boys girls report
  being bullied by boys and girls
• Boys are more likely than girls to be physically
  bullied by their peers
• Girls are more likely to be bullied through
  rumor-spreading, sexual comments, social
  exclusion

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Teaching students to be Anti-Bully

• Teachers need to teach their students to be an
  anti-bully.
• This is a person, who instead of being mean and
  ugly to another person, chooses to be kind. He
  or she makes sure that shy and lonely students
  are treated right.
• If a student doesnt have anyone to eat or play
  with, this person will befriend him/her. He or
  she will step in and help a student who is being
  mistreated by a bully.
• An anti-bully needs to be taught to be brave
  enough to do the right thing, and will need to
  understand that their actions will gain them
  respect from others and for themselves.

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Steps to Referring Bullies

• Address the incident immediately. If necessary,
  call parents never label a child as a bully.
• If the students behavior becomes chronic, refer
  them to the counselor.
• If the bullying behavior continues after
  counseling sessions, then refer them to the
  assistant principal.

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Teachers Role in Preventing Bullying

• Teachers must recognize that bullying can happen
  from students that would be least expected.
  Bullies are sneaky. Bullying can occur right in
  the classroom without teacher knowledge. Research
  shows that children have to have thousands of
  ethical conversations before they can make
  ethical choices, so teachers must use every
  opportunity in the classroom to discuss ethics.
•  

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Teachers Role in Preventing Bullying

•   The following are specific things that teachers
  can do to help prevent bullying
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• Make it clear to students that bullying will not
  be tolerated in the classroom, in the hallways,
  on the playground, or anywhere at school.
• Ensure students that if anyone has a problem with
  bullying that he/she can talk to you about it in
  person or by writing you a note about what
  happened.
• Immediately take action when you see bullying,
  name calling, or harassment happen in your
  presence.
• Coaches can address bullying and tie it into good
  sportsmanship.
• Help students identify themselves as allies for
  victimized students.

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Teachers Role in Preventing Bullying

•  The following are specific things that teachers
  can do to help prevent bullying
•  If students report bullying, make sure that the
  bullies are confronted and that the victims,
  bystanders, and allies feel protected.
• Have students write what they think a bully is
  and discuss out loud.
• Work with other teachers to share ideas on what
  you are doing in your classroom to teach about
  and prevent bullying.
• With students, compile a list of strategies for
  dealing with bullies and post them in the
  classroom.
• Help students decipher the difference between
  tattling on someone just to get them in trouble
  and telling an adult about a situation in order
  to keep someone from getting hurt.

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Adminstrations Role in Preventing Bullying

• Administration also must make it clear that any
  form of bullying will not be tolerated.
• Students will be made aware that bullying will be
  dealt with immediately by all faculty and staff
  towards bullying.
• There will be appropriate consequences and
  remediation for students who choose to be
  bullies.
• Administration will work with teachers during
  grade level meetings on lesson plans to help
  students think about and deal with bullying.
• Resources, including books, videos, tapes, etc,
  are provided to help teachers enhance their
  lessons on bullying.
• A full investigation will take place when
  bullying issues are reported, and everyone
  involved will be treated fairly.
• Parents will be informed of bullying incidents
  involving their child.

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Warning Signs of Bullying

• Suddenly doesnt want to go to school
• Has unexplainable bruises and does not want to
  talk about them
• Suddenly can not sleep
• Becomes moody
• Feels sick quite often with vague symptoms

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BEST PRACTICES TOOLS

• STUDENT COMPLAINT FORM
• A counselor or administrator who receives a
  report of bullying, sexual harassment will
  address the following issues with the student who
  is the target of the reported behaviors in a
  private meeting before assisting the student to
  complete the Complaint Form.

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BEST PRACTICES TOOLS

• STUDENT ON STUDENT ALTERCATION RESPONSE CHART
  FORM
• Principals or principals designee are
  responsible for responding to incident reports.
  This checklist has been provided to assist the
  principal or designee in ensuring that necessary
  steps are taken when incidents have been brought
  to the principals attention. Confidentiality
  should be maintained when investigating reports.

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BEST PRACTICES TOOLS

• SCHOOL-BASED STAY AWAY AGREEMENT
• The intent of this agreement is to increase
  safety for students who have been the target of
  severe or repeated bullying, sexual harassment or
  dating violence. It is to be administered by the
  Principal or the principals designee in a
  conference with the offending student and his or
  her parent.

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BEST PRACTICES TOOLS

• FOUNDATION BULLYING COMPONENTS
• The following is a flow chart of Central office
  support for schools and families.
• The development of the plan, although
  spear-headed through school support services,
  represents a cross-section of professionals from
  departments throughout the district. Because
  bullying can have critical outcomes, what is
  taught and the techniques used must be considered
  and approved before implementation.

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Respect and tolerance for others taught through character education and the 40 Developmental Assets framework. (refer accordingly) EXPLAIN FLOW CHART Students and parents can call HISD Police Hotline 24 hours seven days a week. Calls are filtered through the Districts Safe Schools Office. If the call requires community, student, or faculty training the Safe schools manager responds to provide the support to schools, families and children. If the Manager of Safe Schools is unavailable or if training is to be provided continuously over time, professional development trainers are utilized using district standards. Cyber bullying training is offered utilizing i-Safe a comprehensive program that is scientific and research-based this program is available district-wide.
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SOLUTIONS FOR BULLYING

• BIBLIOTHERAPY CHILDRENS BOOKLIST-is an expressive
  therapy that uses an individual's relationship to
  the content of books and poetry and other written
  words as therapy
• STUDENT REFLECTION LOG-students complete this log
  after bullying act, it is designed to allow
  students to reflect on their behavior and the
  choices they made.