Hopatcong Releases Anti-Bullying Report

Hopatcong recorded 12 incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying during the first half of the 2011-2012 school year, according to a biannual report released Monday.

The incidents were contained to the (10) and (two), the report said. Borough elementary schools reported no instances of harrassment, intimidation and bullying, the report said.

The report was the first of its kind the borough since the forcing schools to crack down, record and follow up on incidents of harassment, bullying and intimidation—even if they occur off school grounds or on the Internet. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights also forced districts to establish anti-bullying committees in each school.

Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said it was "exceedingly good news" that of the 12 incidents, only one was physical.

"That kind of stuff, generally that's a code of conduct violation," he said during Monday's Board of Education meeting at the . "But if it's persistent, and it has a demeaning effect on the student, whom we call the victim, then we've got to took at that through the [harassment, bullying and intimidation] lens."

But Maranzano and school board President Cliff Lundin each said they were concerned that asking districts to investigate bullying off school grounds might be too much.

"That's a long reach for school officials, by the way," Maranzano said.

"Sometimes the state gets carried away and some of the statistics and some of the requirements are probably a little bit beyond needed," Lundin said, who later added: "A lot of these things occur off school property and on the Internet and how far do you carry them?"

But Lundin said the district would take each reported incident "absolutely serious. Period."

"Every child in the Hopatcong system has the absolute legal right to attend a school free of harassment, intimidation and bullying," Lundin said. "And the first step that's necessary is to tell an adult, to tell a responsible person and let us carry the ball from there."

The law requires the school release a cumulative anti-bullying report at the end of the school year.