‘Bullying”: the term is one of the most-discussed phrases in the lexicon of education. Along with “class size,” “No Child Left Behind,” “standardized tests” and “budget cuts,” the issue draws endless media attention and places certain schools under public scrutiny. Consequently, educators have taken the offensive, drawing up policies and punishments for rule-breakers. One state has even gone as far as to mandate anti-bullying measures in all of its schools.
A new state law in New Jersey allows bullies to be reported to the police by their classmates through anonymous tips to the Crime Stoppers Hotline. The law, known as the Anti-bullying Bill of Rights, is considered the toughest legislation against bullying in the United States. It demands that all public schools adopt comprehensive anti-bullying policies, increase staff training and adhere to tight deadlines for reporting episodes.
Spurred by the suicide of a Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi, the new law requires every public school district to provide an anti-bullying coordinator at the district level and an anti-bullying specialist at every school. In addition to the anti-bullying specialist, the new law requires the district to appoint a safety team at each school made up of teachers, staff and parents to view complaints. Principals are obligated to begin an investigation within one school day of a bullying episode and superintendents must provide reports to the state twice a year detailing all episodes. The State of Education Department will evaluate every effort, posting grades on its website.
Although the state encourages schools to appoint anti-bullying specialists, coordinators and safety teams from existing staff, the law still puts additional strain on schools. This summer, thousands of school employees attended training sessions on the Anti-bullying Bill of Rights and many school districts purchased anti-bullying kits from the Educational Information and Resource Center for more than $1,000.
In effect
For some districts, implementing anti-bullying policies may be new territory, but for Franklin Township Public Schools the new law is just a few steps beyond anti-bullying procedures already in place. In November, the school district updated its current policy on Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) to provide procedures for the anonymous reporting of acts of HIB. The district has had anonymous procedures in place since last year, but now students, parents and community members can report bullying episodes anonymously using a dedicated email address or by calling the district administrative office.
To demonstrate how serious it is about eliminating bullying, the New Jersey school district has dedicated a separate web page solely to this cause. The page can be used to obtain information on issues related to school safety, including links to pertinent Franklin Township Board of Education Policies and the Student Code of Conduct. The site also will be used to provide information on the district’s policies and procedures regarding HIB.
The district plans to update the site with training information and create a student assistance counselor web page with information on related programs. As the year progresses, a list of frequently asked questions and answers will be provided. A list of the contact information for the district anti-bullying coordinator and the school level anti-bullying specialists is provided there as well as posted on the main page of the district web site and on the main page of each school’s web site.
In accordance with Franklin Township Board of Education’s Policy on HIP and New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, the first week of October was designated as the week of Respect and the third week was designated as School Violence Awareness Week. A number of programs, assemblies and activities occurred through the month of October in recognition of both. In addition, each school has an anti-bullying specialist on site and its own method of reporting bullying situations anonymously through either a drop box, email or an unsigned incident report.
Franklin Township
Franklin Township Public School District is a pre-K through grade 12 educational system that offers a six-hour full-time kindergarten program. Comprised of nine schools with approximately 7,800 students and more than 800 certificated staff members, the district is located in the largest township of Somerset County. It holds a population representative of diverse economic, ethnic and social backgrounds and 57 different native languages.
Led by Superintendent Edward Seto, the district’s mission is to provide excellent educational opportunities for every student, maintain an environment that engenders an appreciation of the value of every student, develop every student to his or her highest potential and instill the attitudes, skills and knowledge necessary to become independent contributing members of a democratic, multicultural society.
A high-performing district
This November, the school district received notice from Bari Erlichson, chief academic officer from the Department of Education, regarding the District’s Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) scores. Based on the most recent assessment results, Franklin Township achieved a score of 80 percent in the instruction and program section of the district performance review (DPR).
The DPR is the document used to evaluate the district for QSAC purposes. Based upon that evaluation, the district is placed on a continuum in each of the areas in the DRP. Those areas are instruction and program, fiscal management, operations, personnel and governance. The initial placement on the continuum in the area of instruction and program was 64 percent.
This increase is especially significant because the district has now satisfied at least 80 percent of the weighted indicators in each of the five areas of the QSAC review process and has been designated as “high performing.”
Acting-Commissioner Christopher D. Cerf will recommend to the State Board of Education that Franklin Township Public Schools be certified as providing a thorough and efficient system of education for a period of three years or until the next QSAC review.
