Bullying and Harassment

Statement of Administrative Policy

At Lanikai School, we are committed to providing a caring, friendly, and safe environment for all of our students so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. The Lanikai School Board considers harassment to be a major offense and any individuals who violate this policy are subject to discipline up to and including dismissal or other appropriate sanction. Harassment is subjecting another person to aggressive pressure or intimidation and/or repeated small‐scale attacks. Harassment includes bullying! Bullying of any kind will not be tolerated, whether it takes place on the campus or off, or even online.

If bullying does occur, all students should report the incident and know that it will be dealt with promptly and effectively. All students should remember that when it comes to bullying, ours is a “telling school.” This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell a staff member.

What is bullying?

Bullying is the use of emotional or physical aggression with the intention of hurting another person. Bullying can be intended to intimidate another person, hurt another person’s feelings, or cause discomfort or pain to the other person’s body.

Examples

Bullying includes things like being unfriendly, excluding another child from a group, hiding another student’s books, or just making threatening gestures. Bullies tease other people, threaten them, call them names, spread rumors, or draw unfriendly pictures of them. Pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any other use of physical violence is a form of bullying.

Sexual harassment is also a form of bullying. It includes:

  • touching in a sexual way or making sexual advances
  • making sexual drawings or graffiti
  • displaying or distributing sexual drawings, pictures, and written materials
  • making sexual gestures or telling sexual or "dirty" jokes
  • displaying or touching oneself sexually or talking about sexual activity
  • spreading sexual rumors about other students
Cyber‐bullying means misusing any cyber communication to send text or graphics that fit the definitions given above. This includes misuse of email, chat rooms, blogs, Internet sites, text messaging, or phone calls. Inappropriate use of the school’s photographic, video, or computer facilities will be cause for disciplinary action, as well.

What will we do to prevent bullying?

The school will use various methods for preventing bullying. When appropriate, these may include:

  • Signing a behavior contract
  • Small or large group discussions about bullying and why it matters
  • School‐wide anti‐bullying curriculum taught as part of Responsive Classroom and Quantum Learning [8 Keys of Excellence]

Why is it important to respond to bullying?

Schools have a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to issues of bullying. Bullying hurts. In addition, bullying disrupts the educational process for the intended victim and his or her classmates. No one deserves to be a victim of bullying. As adults, parents and staff members know that sometimes bullies want to hurt other people because they come from a different race, religion, or cultural background. Sometimes bullies are mean because they are unhappy or frightened themselves. It is our responsibility to discover the causes and help our students deal with them so that they can respect everyone else’s rights and can learn a different way of behaving.

What are the objectives of this administrative policy?

  • In all cases, an attempt will be made to help students who bully others understand and change their behavior.
  • All teaching and non‐teaching staff and all students and parents should have an understanding of what bullying is, what the school’s administrative policy and procedures are, and what they should do if bullying arises.

What are some signs and symptoms of bullying?

A student’s behavior may indicate that he or she is being bullied. These behaviors could indicate other problems, but bullying should be considered as a possibility and should be investigated. Parents/guardians and members of the school staff should take note if a student:

  • Has torn clothes, damaged books or possessions are missing
  • Asks for money or starts stealing money
  • Has unexplained cuts or bruises
  • Comes home unusually hungry
  • Becomes aggressive, disruptive or unreasonable
  • Is bullying other children or siblings
  • Stops eating
  • Is frightened to say what he/she thinks might be ‘wrong’
  • Is frightened of walking to or from school
  • Begs to be driven to school
  • Changes his/her usual routine
  • Is unwilling to go to school
  • Becomes withdrawn anxious, or lacking in confidence
  • Threatens suicide or runs away
  • Cries him/herself to sleep, has nightmares, or feels ill in the morning
  • Is afraid to use the internet, cell phone
  • Begins to do poorly in school work

Administrative Procedures

(In accordance with Discipline Guidelines for Grades 1‐3 and 4‐6)
  1. All students report to a staff member any bullying incidents they witness or of which they are the target.
  2. If the bullying situation is in progress, staff members who become aware of bullying step in immediately in order to stop the unacceptable behavior.
  3. Staff members immediately record the observed or reported incident in writing; they include names of students involved, date, and time. They provide the written report to the principal or counselor as quickly as possible.
  4. In all cases, the principal or counselor investigates the report of bullying behavior in order to stop any actual bullying and meets with students accused of bullying as quickly as possible. If evidence of bullying is confirmed, the principal may impose in‐school or out‐of‐school suspension, depending upon the severity of the offense.
  5. Principal or counselor informs parents/guardians of students who are accused of bullying, and, as called for, schedules a meeting with parents/guardians to discuss the problem. Parents/guardians will be notified immediately in the case of either in‐school or of out‐ofschool suspension.
  6. Parents may appeal a suspension decision by scheduling a second meeting with the principal. The principal is the final authority.
  7. Discipline Guidelines for progressive discipline and corrective action (grades 1‐3 and 4‐6) are provided to parents/guardians of Lanikai School students. In all cases, these are guidelines only and disciplinary actions will be tailored to respond to individual situations.
  8. If necessary and appropriate, in extreme cases police will be consulted.