School District to Explore Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Social Media Policies

School administrators are developing new policies to comply with state mandated anti-bullying and harassment as well as establishing social networking guidelines for the coming year.

Dr. Mark Porto, superintendent of schools, reported during the board of education meeting Thursday that the policy committee is reviewing the state mandated guidelines for anti-bullying, intimidation and harassment policies and will be creating teams at each of the schools.

Nicole Fried has been selected to serve as coordinator and will be working with the teams to create theme days and will work with other staff members at the different schools to create a culture and climate based on respect throughout the entire district, he explained.

Porto said the district will also take a lead with developing social media guidelines something which many other districts have not been able to accomplish as of yet and in fact the New Jersey School Board and state principal’s association have reported they are unsure about how to proceed.

However through research, Porto found guidelines used by the University of Michigan which the district hopes to develop in order to incorporate social media into the district.

As there have been incidents that have occurred in the state and other parts of the country where social media has caused negative impacts, the district wants to develop a way to use social media sites like Twitter and Facebook positively as there are many ways it can benefit and engage students and parents on school activities and clubs, he explained.

The district would not be able to infringe on one’s First Amendment rights however the guidelines would be used in a way so that members of the school community could hold each other accountable if one were to post a comment that was found to be hurtful to the culture of the district.

Porto also reported that the violence and vandalism report for the 2010-2011 school year showed the district is making strides in all areas. He did mention there was a slight increase in vandalism and that the in-school suspension number has also gone up however this is because he has encouaged principals to create disciplinary programs that keep the kids in school.