Westfield School Anti-Bullying Scores, Next Steps Discussed

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield school officials went over their annual anti-bullying self-assessment in preparation to submit it to the New Jersey Department of Education, as required under the state’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights.

Superintendent Dr. Raymond Gonzalez told the school board the 2025-2026 self-assessment process evaluates "our efforts to prevent and address harassment, intimidation, and bullying across eight key areas, including prevention programs, staff training, and reporting procedures."

Gonzalez said the district used the review to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

"Following the board approval this evening, our ratings will be submitted to the NJDOE for their review, with final grades expected in the spring," he said.

He also said the results, once released, will be posted on state and district websites.

Gonzalez told the board that grades currently posted online are from two years ago because of the timing of the state review process.

He said districts are reviewing the prior year, and final grades are typically not issued until the end of the current school year.

Board member Julie Steinberg said she reviewed the attachment in detail and looked at district data over time.

"I appreciate the work that goes into preparing the annual HIB self-assessment and bringing the results to the board," Steinberg said.

She said the state framework gives the district "an opportunity to evaluate our performance not just in a single year, but historically."

Steinberg pointed to several score changes she wanted to better understand, including a decline in the investigative procedures score at Westfield High School, a districtwide decline in school-level HIB incident reporting, and a drop in prevention programming at Washington.

She said she was "not making conclusions" but "just making observations with the data that we have."

In response, Gonzalez said the board received the same level of annual reporting it has in prior years and described the attachment as a summative table that does not show every underlying indicator.

He said district administrators review those indicators in more detail with the school counseling department and the district anti-bullying coordinator to identify opportunities for greater consistency and standardization across schools.

“To more directly answer your question, did we notice 'Oh, yeah, we definitely notice'," Gonzalez said.

He said the next step is to continue that work so the next round of scores reflects those efforts. Final grades are expected in the spring after the state review is complete.

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