Schools

2 Years Of Bully Battles Cost This N.J. School District $100K

Taking action against bullies is the responsible thing to do. But what happens when the bully battle starts taking a financial toll?

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Taking action against bullies and protecting the vulnerable is the responsible thing to do. But what happens when the bully battle starts taking a financial toll?

The South Orange-Maplewood School District has spent almost $100,000 on legal fees involving Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) over the past two years, according to a recent TAP Into SOMA report.

Citing data gathered via an Open Public Records Act request, the report states that attorneys billed the district for $96,995 to cover HIB-related cases in 2016 and 2017.

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Read the full report here.

Many of the invoices are from a firm that handled bullying allegations regarding ex-Columbia High School baseball coach Joe Fischetti, TAP Into reported.

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Fischetti had been accused of letting a culture of bullying take root in the district, including “lewd, racist and vulgar” comments and retaliatory cuts to the team’s roster. Administrators replaced him as coach later that year.

However, the recent rise in legal fees may not necessarily mean that more SOMA residents are making bully-related complaints. The district’s overall HIB complaints have dropped more than three-fold over the past four years, TAP Into stated.

THE HIGH COST OF BULLYING

Statewide, many school districts have reported spending large sums of money on legal fees surrounding bullying allegations.

Last year, the Millburn School District settled a lawsuit with a former student for more than $400,000. The former student will receive $435,000 in relation to a civil complaint filed in January 2011, after he was expelled from Millburn High School following a fight outside the school, NorthJersey.com reported.

The African-American student claimed that the fight was motivated by repeated bullying and threats while he was attending the school.

According to nonprofit advocacy group Public Justice, other recent bullying-related school settlements in New Jersey include:

2013 - Old Bridge Township Public Schools, $75,000 – “A male student was bullied for his religion and perceived sexuality beginning in middle school and continuing into high school. The harassment took place at school, on the bus and on the internet.”

2012 – Board of Education of the Borough of Ramsey, $4.2 million – “A 12 year-old student ended up paralyzed from the waist down soon after a bully punched him so hard in the abdomen that a blood clot formed in one of his major arteries and burst when it reached his spine. Prior to the incident, the student had complained to school officials about being bullied, writing e-mails to the guidance counselor and assistant principal informing them that the bullying had increased, asking for help to figure out coping mechanisms, and wanting to create a record in the event that the bullying continued.”

2012 - Irvington Board of Education, $16.3 million – “15-year old student was left a quadriplegic and brain damaged after his 17-year old classmate severely beat him. The attacker had been suspended from school the day before the beating, but the school nevertheless allowed him back the next morning.”

2011 - Emerson Board of Education, $130,000 – “Student endured physical and verbal harassment, in person and online, over a six-year period in middle and high school because of his perceived sexual orientation. The student’s peers created a social networking web site to post disparaging remarks about the plaintiff.”

2011 - Franklin Twp. School Board, $75,000 – “African-American elementary school student was the victim of race-based bullying from third to seventh grade. The student was called ugly by white students and told to ‘go back to the hood.’”

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