Schools
Ramsey Schools Remain Ahead Of The Bullying Curve
When the state was still shaping their Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying policies in 2002, the Ramsey school district was already implementing many of the policies that eventually became law in 2011, according to the district
During the Ramsey school board meeting Thursday, several principals from the district participated in a presentation on the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying procedures that have been in place in the district for the past year.
District curriculum director, and former Smith Middle School principal, Dr. Richard N. Wiener led the presentation and elaborated on how the district and the community have been proactive with regard to the state’s bulling policies.
“We looked that bill, we evaluated our program, we already had a character education program in place and made some improvements,” said Wiener, referring to the first bill passed by the state legislature in 2002 requiring districts to enact anti-bulling policies.
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In addition to working with Stuart Green, Director of the NJ Coalition for Bullying Awareness and Prevention, a consultant to the state legislature who had a hand in the redesigning of the law that was eventually passed in 2011, the district created an anti-bulling specialist.
“We hired at that time Christine Caporuscio, who is now our district anti-bulling coordinator, with the idea that if we situated a person who is a specialist in this area in the building, we could do a more effective job of targeting and supporting children who have these needs,” Wiener said, referring to the Smith School, which was chosen to pilot the program in 2008.
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According to Wiener, the purpose of the program was to promote a culture of respect and tolerance at the middle school, and eventually district-wide. The district then piloted a committee that would ensure the HIB policies were carried out efficiently.
“In 2011, the state of New Jersey enacted this new law, and the two major recommendations from this law were that every [school] building in the state of New Jersey would have an anti-bulling specialist, and that every building would be required to have a committee that is focused and responsible for HIB,” Wiener said.
“We found it very interesting that people we worked with, and advised us on the work we had done, had in fact resulted in the recommendations of the new law that came out,” Wiener added.
In August, Interim Superintendent Bruce Young sent a letter to parents informing them of the programs in each school and grade level developed to continually reinforce character education and traits including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
“Additionally, district staff received training in enhancing their skills in teaching and reinforcing positive school/classroom climate and in recognizing and reporting conflict between students,” said Young in the letter. “Coupled with grade level appropriate codes of conduct and student learning and discussion sessions, it is our expectation that our population recognizes and demonstrates appropriate behavior within our schools.”
To review the HIB policies for the district and specific initiatives for each Ramsey school, go to the Ramsey School district website, and under the BOE/POLICY, click Bullying Information.
