Bullying / Harassment
WHAT IS HARASSMENT?
- Harassment happens when one person or more than one person, hurts someone
- It can be physical, verbal or non verbal
- Harassment is about power
- People who harass are trying to gain power, authority, popularity or trying to see the other person upset
- Harassment is often repeated – it happens more than once
HARASSMENT INCLUDES:
- Name calling, insults, rude remarks
- Pushing, shoving, blocking, hitting
- Writing on books, desks, walls, etc.
- Intentionally ignoring someone
- Inappropriate sexual comments
- Rumours
- Threats – physical or verbal
- Staring, glaring, dirty looks
- Unwanted touching
- Blackmail, bribery
- Exclusion
- Trickery
- Teasing
- Discrimination
- Stealing
- Sexual harassment
- Extortion
CYBER BULLYING
- Abusive, demeaning, hateful or insulting
- Threatening, bullying, intimidating
- Incites harmful behaviour towards others
- Discriminates or harasses based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability
- Creates a poisonous environment or disruption in the school
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE IS BEING HARASSED?
- Be assertive – speak up
- Confront the person – ask them to stop
- Report the incident to a staff member
- If you are a witness – speak up for the victim
- Report the incident to staff
REPORTING IS NOT RATTING
- Reporting is telling to get help.
- Ratting is telling to get someone in trouble
- Remember, the person being harassed is not the person with the problem – the bully has the problem!
HOW DO WE STOP HARASSMENT?
- Talk about it
- Educate students and parents
- Report bullying
- Develop a school wide approach
- School discipline
HOW WILL THE SCHOOL RESPOND?
When you report harassment, our school will treat your concern seriously and confidentially. Every incident will be investigated. When you talk to a staff member, they will help you to solve the problem.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU ARE ACCUSED OF HARASSMENT?
- Incident investigated.
- Discussion about incident. This could lead to conflict resolution or problem solving.
- Restorative measures when appropriate
- Informal and formal suspensions.
- School discipline following District/School Student Codes of Conduct.
- Repeat incidents could result in suspension to District committee and/or the RCMP.
Every student should feel safe at school. No student should be afraid of going to school for fear of being physically, verbally or non-verbally harassed.
Any student known to have engaged in, organized and/or encouraged any abusive behaviour will be reported to the parent/guardian and, depending on the severity or the repetitive nature of the abusive behaviour, may be report to the RCMP and/or the Student Conduct Review Committee.