School Committee Studies Bullying Survey Results

At Monday’s meeting, Norton school committee received results from an anonymous bullying survey that was issued last month.

Zero incidents were reported at , and . Three were reported at , and five were recorded at.

In the entire school district, 67 percent of students said they have never been bullied, while 2 percent say they are every day. Nineteen percent said that they experience bullying one to two times a month, while 6 percent say they are bullied one or two times a week.

When it comes to students talking about these incidents, 22 percent say that they don’t tell anyone while 15 percent say they tell a parent. Nine percent tell a teacher.

Committee member Deniz Savas pointed out that the numbers didn’t reflect well on Norton schools, particularly in the higher grade levels.

“It’s going on, and no one is telling us about it,” Savas said. He suggested adding the question, What do you do after being bullied? And If you don’t report bullying, why not?

Jennifer O’Neil and Richard Godmintz, who analyzed results, agreed that there is room for improvement. They recommended site specific surveys for each school, clarifying the definition of bullying, include cyber bullying and clarifying procedures for reporting.

Student council president Sara Pisdadian said that there is definitely spillover from incidents on Facebook into the next school day, so she is all for including cyberbullying in the next survey.

“As we get older, kids become smarter and bullies become more high tech,” Pisdadian said.

Kady Ferguson, also on the student council, said that older kids also want to solve problems themselves.

“You got to start somewhere,” said school committee member Mackie. “And this is a start.”