National Bullying Prevention Month Comes To Ocean City Schools

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Schools in New Jersey have some of the toughest anti-bullying regulations in the country, under the Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights. Schools are required to report all instances of harassment, intimidation and bullying (known as HIB incidents), and provide detailed information about their bullying statistics.

Ocean City schools have been participating in initiatives this month, including the The Week of Respect from Oct. 7-11, "an annual week of awareness, education and action around harassment, intimidation and bullying in New Jersey public schools." During this week, schools across the state will provide anti-bullying education to students, as required by the state Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights.

The Numbers

For the 2015-2016 school year, which was the most recently available data, the Ocean City School District reported four cases of harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB).

One incident involved a physical altercation, two included electronic communication and all four cases included verbal conflict. The offenders and victims received individual counseling in each case. There were three student conferences and zero parent conferences for the offenders. Three victims received support services.

HIB grades are self-reported. Overall, the district gave itself a good score of 74 out of a possible 78 points. Ocean City Primary School earned a 75, while the intermediate and high schools received 73 points each.

The Ocean City School District uses the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The program centers on classroom meetings and lessons as well as improving school climate.

Initiatives

Ocean City schools are participating in several anti-bullying initiatives.

Primary School: OCPS is honoring The Week of Respect with this schedule:

• Monday, October 7th: No Drama, Pajama Day (Rock your favorite pajama pants)
• Tuesday, October 8th: Peace, Love, and Tie-Dye (Rock your favorite tie-dye or 60’s-inspired gear)
• Wednesday, October 9th: Be Friendly in Flannel (Rock your flannel, plaid, and fall gear)
• Thursday, October 10th: Block the Hate: Wear shades and sunglasses (Rock your favorite sunglasses in the hallway only)
• Friday, October 11th: PINK Day: Wear pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

The school also has morning announcements and grade-level assemblies focusing on respect.

During Violence Awareness Week from Oct. 15-18, they will celebrate school safety. Classroom lessons will include fire drills, safety drills and evacuations. The school will review procedures and answer students' questions.

High School: Here's what OCHS is doing for The Week of Respect:

All week, students have pledged an anti-bullying message by coloring their feathers and writing a positive message on them. The feathers will be places together and hung around the school to promote a safe climate.

Students wrote kind thoughts and positive quotes Tuesday on red or white sticky notes and placed them on random lockers. Thursday was the fifth-annual Chalk Message Project, where students wrote positive message in chalk for their peers.

The Week of Respect closes Friday with students designing and painting "OC Rocks" with anti-bullying messages and placing them in rock gardens in the courtyard.

The high school has several activities set for School Violence Awareness Week, including selfies with a "Sprinkle Kindness" backdrop and positive quotes t-shirt day, where students design positive or anti-bullying shirts and participate in a t-shirt contest.

Ocean City Intermediate School did not inform Patch of its October initiatives by the time of publishing.

Bullying Around the Nation

The problem isn't isolated to just New Jersey. National statistics vary, but an aggregate of 80 different studies on bullying suggests one in five American students between 12 and 18 is bullied at some point during their middle or high school years. Traditional bullying — name calling, public humiliation, isolation, physical violence and that sort of thing — occurs most often, with 35 percent of kids reporting they've been targeted in one of those ways. The studies cited by the PACER Center, which established National Bullying Prevention Month, show that 15 percent of kids surveyed report being cyberbullied.

Among the marquee National Bullying Prevention Month activities is Unity Day, observed on Wednesday, Oct. 24, when everyone is encouraged to wear and show orange to send a message that no child should ever experience bullying.
"Orange provides a powerful, visually compelling expression of solidarity," Paula Goldberg, the executive director of the PACER Center, said in a statement. "Whether it's hundreds of individuals at a school wearing orange, store owners offering orange products or a community changing a landmark to orange, the vibrant statement becomes a conversation starter, sending the supportive, universal message that bullying is never acceptable behavior."

Here's more about Unity Day:

Laws In New Jersey

Although New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights is one of the strictest anti-bullying laws in the nation, we could soon see the laws become even more stringent.

"Mallory's Law,"which aims to strengthen the current laws by forcing parental involvement, was recently approved unanimously by the State Senate.

Under the new bill, parents could face civil liabilities if they show "blatant disregard of supervising their child, [or] if their child has been judged to be delinquent of harassment or cyber harassment," a press release says, and parents would be subject to anti-bullying education classes.

The reporting and notification process for bullying incidents would be expanded: any accounts of bullying would be sent to the executive county superintendent and the parents of any students involved.

Any student found guilty of bullying would have the incident placed on their permanent record. After three proven bullying incidents, a student and their parents would be required to attend an anti-bullying training session, and law enforcement would be notified to see if any crimes were committed.

With reporting by Deb Belt and Katie Kausch, Patch Staff

THE MENACE OF BULLIES: PATCH ADVOCACY REPORTING PROJECT

As part of a national reporting project, Patch has been looking at society's roles and responsibilities in bullying.

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