It is the policy of this school district that bullying of students by other students, personnel, or the public will not be tolerated. Students are expected to be civil, polite, and fully engaged in the learning process. Students who act inappropriately are not fully engaged in the learning process. This policy is in effect while the students are on school grounds, in school vehicles, at designated bus stops, at school-sponsored activities, or at school sanctioned events and while away from school grounds, if the misconduct directly effects the good order, efficient management, and welfare of the school district. Bullying of students by electronic communication is prohibited whether or not such communication originated at school with school equipment, if the communication is specifically directed at students or school personnel and concerns harassment, intimidation, or bullying at school.  The school district is not required to provide educational services in the regular school setting to any student who has been removed from a public or private school in Oklahoma or another state by administrative or judicial process for an act of using electronic communication with the intent to terrify, intimidate, or harass, or threaten to inflict injury or physical harm to faculty or students. 

As used in the School Safety and Bullying Prevention Act, “bullying” means any pattern of harassment, intimidation, threatening behavior, physical acts, verbal or electronic communication directed toward a student or group of students that results in or is reasonably perceived as being done with the intent to cause negative educational or physical results for the targeted individual or group and is communicated in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school’s educational mission or the education of any student. Such behavior is specifically prohibited.

In administering discipline, consideration will be given to alternative methods of punishment to insure that the most effective discipline is administered in each case. In all disciplinary action, teachers and administrators will be mindful of the fact that they are dealing with individual personalities. The faculty may consider consultation with parents to determine the most effective disciplinary measure.

In considering alternative of corrective actions, the faculty/administration of the school district will consider those listed below. However, the school is not limited to these alternative methods, nor does this list reflect an order of sequence of events to follow in disciplinary actions. The board of education will rely upon the judgement and discretion of the administrator to determine the appropriate remedial or corrective action in each instance.

1. Conference with student

2. Conference with parents

3. In-school suspension

4. Detention

5. Referral to counselor

6. Behavioral contract

7. Changing student’s seat assignment or class assignment

8. Requiring a student to make financial restitution for damaged property

9. Requiring a student to clean or straighten items or facilities damaged by the student’s behavior

10. Restriction of privileges

11. Involvement in local authorities

12. Referring student to appropriate social agency or to a delinquency prevention and diversion program administrated by the Office of Juvenile Affairs

13. Suspension

14. Performing Campus-site services for the school district

15. Other appropriate disciplinary action as required and as indicated by the circumstances which may include, but is not limited to, removal from eligibility to participate or attend extracurricular activities as well as removal from the privilege of attending or participating in the graduation ceremony, school dances, prom, prom activities, and/or class trips.

16. Corporal Punishment.

Harassment set forth above may include, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Verbal, physical or written harassment or abuse;

2. Repeated remarks of a demeaning nature;

3. Implied or explicit threats concerning one’s grades, achievements, etc.;

4. Demeaning jokes, stories, or activities directed at the student;

5. Unwelcome physical contact.

The superintendent shall develop procedures providing for:

1. Prompt investigation of allegations of harassment;

2. The expeditious correction of the conditions causing such harassment;

3. Establishment of adequate measures to provide confidentiality in the complain process;

4. Initiation of appropriate corrective actions;

5. Identification and enactment of methods to prevent reoccurrence of the harassment; and\

6. A process where the provisions of this policy are disseminated in writing annually to all staff and students.

A copy of this policy will be accessible online for each student and teacher in this school district.

Reference:     21 O.S. §850.0; 70 O.S. §24-100.2

            A copy of this policy will be accessible online for each student and teacher in this school district.

Prohibiting Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (Regulation)

Statement of Legislative Mandate and Purpose

This regulation is a result of the legislative mandate and public policy embodied in the School Bullying Protection Act, 70 O.S. §24-100.2.  The Oklahoma Legislature requires school districts to adopt a policy to prevent harassment, intimidation, and bullying in an effort to "create an environment free of unnecessary disruption" and also requires school districts to actively pursue programs for education regarding bullying behaviors.

The Navajo Public Schools' student conduct code prohibits harassment, intimidation, and bullying.  This regulation further explains the negative effects of that behavior and seeks to promote strategies for prevention.

Statement of Board Purpose in Adopting Policy

The board of education recognizes that intimidation, harassment, and bullying of students causes serious educational and personal problems, both for the student-victim and the initiator of the intimidation, harassment, and bullying.  The board observes that this conduct:

1.   Has been shown by national and state studies to have a substantial adverse effect upon school district operations, the safety of students and faculty, and the educational system at large.

2.   Substantially disrupts school operations by interfering with the district's mission to instruct students in an atmosphere free from fear,. Is disruptive of school efforts to encourage students to remain in school until graduation, and is just as disruptive of the district's efforts to prepare students for productive lives in the community as they become adults.

3.   Substantially disrupts healthy student behavior and thereby academic achievement.  Research indicates that healthy student behavior results in increased student academic achievement.  Improvement in student behavior through the prevention or minimization of intimidation, harassment, and bullying towards student-victims simultaneously support the district's primary and substantial interest in operating schools that foster and promote academic achievement.

4.   Substantially interferes with school compliance with federal law that seeks to maximize the mainstreaming of students with disabilities and hinders compliance with Individual Educational Programs containing objectives to increase the socialization of students with disabilities.  Targets of bullying are often students with known physical or mental disabilities who, as a result, are perceived by bullies as easy targets for bullying actions.

5.   Substantially interferes with the district's mission to advance the social skills and social and emotional well­being of students. Targets of intimidation, harassment, and bullying are often "passive-target" students who already are lacking in social skills because they tend to be extremely sensitive, shy, display insecurity,  anxiety and/or distress; may have experienced a traumatic event; may try to use gifts, toys, money, or class assign­ments or performance  bribes to protect themselves from intimidation, harassment, or bullying; are often small for their age and feel vulnerable to bullying acts; and/or may resort to carrying weapons to school for self-protection.  Passive-target  victims who have been harassed and demeaned by the behavior of bullies often respond by striving to obtain power over others by becoming bullies themselves, and are specifically prone to develop into students who eventually inflict serious physical harm on other students, or, in an effort to gain power over their life or situation, commit suicide.

6.   Substantially disrupts school operations by increasing violent acts committed against fellow students.  Violence, in this context, is frequently accompanied by criminal acts.

7.   Substantially disrupts school operations by interfering with the reasonable expectations of other students that they can feel secure at school and not be subjected to frightening acts or be the victim of mistreatment resulting from bullying behaviors.

8.   Bullying, harassing, and intimidating behavior often involves expressive gestures, speech, physical acts that are sexually suggestive, lewd, vulgar, profane, or offensive to the education or social mission of this school district, and at times involves the commission of criminal acts.  This behavior interferes with the curriculum by disrupting the pres­entation of instruction and also disrupts and interferes with the student-victim's or bystander's ability to concentrate, retain instruction, and study or to operate free from the effects of intimidation, harassment, and bullying.  This results in a reluctance or resistance to attend school.

Definition of Terms

1. Statutory definition of harassment, intimidation and bullying;

   70 O.S. §24-100.3(c) of the School Bullying Protection Act defines the terms "harass, intimidate, or bully," as including, but not limited to,  any gesture, written or verbal expression, or physical act that a reasonable  person should recognize will:

   1. Harm another student

   2. Damage another Student’s property

   3. Place another student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or damage the student’s property; or

   4. Insult or demean any student or group of students in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school's educational mission or the education of any student.

2. The “Reasonable Person" Standard

   In determining what a "reasonable  person" should recognize as an act placing a student in "reasonable" fear of harm, staff  will determine "reasonableness" not only from the point of view of a mature adult, but also from the point of view of an immature child of the age of the intended victim along with, but not limited to, consideration of special emotional, physical, or mental needs of the particular child; personality or physical characteristics, or history that might cause the child to be particularly sensitive to efforts by a bully to humiliate, embarrass, or lower the self esteem of the victim; and the discipline history, personality of, and physical characteristics  of the individual alleged to have engaged in the prohibited behavior.

3. General Display of Bullying Acts

   Bullying, for purposes of this section of the regulation, includes harassment and intimidation, and vice versa. According to experts in the field, bullying in general is the exploitation of a less powerful person by an individual taking unfair advantage of that person, which is repeated over time, and which inflicts a negative effect on the victim.  The seriousness of a bullying act depends on the harm inflicted upon the victim and the frequency of the offensive acts.  Power may be, but is not limited to, physical strength social skill, verbal ability, or other characteristics.

Bullying acts by students have been described in several different categories.

A.   Physical Bullying includes harm or threatened harm to another's body or property, including, but not limited to, what would reasonably be foreseen as a serious expression of intent to inflict physical harm or property damage through verbal or written speech or gestures directed at the student-victim, when considering the factual circumstances in which the threat was made and the reaction of the intended victim. Common acts include tripping, Hitting, pushing, pinching, pulling  hair, kicking, biting, starting fights, daring others to fight, stealing or destroying property, extortion, assaults with a weapon, other violent acts, and homicide.

B.   Emotional Bullying includes the intentional infliction of harm to another's self-esteem, including, but not limited to, insulting or profane remarks, insulting or profane gestures, or harassing and frightening statement, when such events are considered in light of the surrounding facts, the history of the students involved, and age, maturity, and special characteristics of the students.

C.   Social Bullying includes harm to another's group acceptance, including, but not limited to, harm resulting from intentionally gossiping about another student or intentionally spreading negative rumors about another student that results in the victim being excluded from a school activity or student group; the intentional planning and/or implementation  of acts or statements that inflict public humiliation  upon a student; the intentional undermining of current relationships of the victim-student through the spreading of untrue gossip or rumors designed to humiliate or embarrass the student; the use of gossip, rumors, or humiliating acts designed to deprive the student of awards, recognition, or involvement in school activities; the false or malicious spreading of an untrue statement or statements about another student that exposes the victim to contempt or ridicule or deprives the victim of the confidence and respect of student peers; or the making of false statements to others that the student has committed a crime, or has an infectious, contagious, or loathsome disease, or similar egregious representations.

D.   Sexual Bullying includes harm to another resulting from, but not limited to, making unwelcome sexual comments about the student; making vulgar, profane, or lewd comments or drawings or graffiti about the victim; directing vulgar, profane, or lewd gestures toward the victim; committing physical acts of a sexual nature at school, including the fondling or touching of private parts of the victim’s body; participation in the gossiping or spreading of false rumors about the student’s sexual life; written or verbal statements directed at the victim that would reasonably be interpreted as a serious threat to force the victim to commit sexual acts or to sexually assault the victim when considering the factual circumstances in which the threat was made and the reaction of the intended victim; off-campus dating violence by a student that adversely affects the victim's school performance or behavior, attendance, participation  in school functions or extracurricular activities, or makes the victim fearful at school of the assaulting bully; or the commission of sexual assault, rape, or homicide.  Such conduct may also constitute sexual harassment- also prohibited by Navajo Public Schools.

Procedures Applicable to the Understanding of and Prevention of Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying of Students

1. Student and Staff Education and Training

All staff will be provided with a copy of the district's policy on prevention of harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students.  All students will be provided a summary of the policy and notice that a copy of the entire policy is available on request.  Navajo Public Schools is committed to providing appropriate and relevant training to staff regarding identification of behavior constituting harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students and .the prevention and management of such conduct.

Students, like staff members, shall participate in an annual education: program that sets out expectations for student behavior and emphasizes an understanding of harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students, the district's prohibition of such conduct, and the

reasons why the conduct is destructive, unacceptable, and will lead to discipline.  Students shall also be informed of the consequences of bullying conduct toward their peers.

2. Navajo Public School’s Safe School Committee

The safe school committee has the responsibility of studying and making recommendations  regarding unsafe conditions, strategies for students to avoid harm at school, student victimization, crime prevention, school violence  and other issues that interfere with an adversely affect the maintenance of safe schools.

With respect to student harassment, intimidation, and bullying, the safe school committee shall consider and make recommendations regarding professional staff development needs of faculty and other staff related to methods to decrease student harassment, intimidation, and bullying and understanding and identifying bullying behaviors.  In addition, the committee shall make recommendations regarding: identification of methods to encourage the involvement of the community and students in addressing conduct involving bullying; methods to enhance relationships between students and school staff in order to strengthen communication; and fashioning of problem-solving teams that include counselors and/or school psychologists.

In accomplishing its objectives, the committee shall review traditional and accepted harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention programs utilized by other states, state agencies, or school districts.

Student Reporting
Students are encouraged to inform school personnel if they are the victim of or a witness to acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.

Staff Reporting
An important duty of the staff is to report acts or behavior that the employee witnesses that appears to constitute harassing, intimidating, or bullying.  Employees, whether certified or noncertified, shall encourage students who tell them about acts that may constitute intimidation, harassment, or bullying to complete a report form.  For young students, staff members given that information will need to provide direct assistance to the student.

Staff members who witness such events are to complete reports and to submit them to the employee designated by the superintendent to receive them.  Staff members who hear of incidents that may, in the staff member's judgment, constitute harassment, intimidation, or bullying, are to report all relevant information to the superintendent or his/her designee.

Parental Responsibilities
Parents/guardians will be informed in writing of the district's program to stop intimidation, harassment, and bullying. An administrative response to a reported act of intimidation, harassment, or bullying may involve certain actions to be taken by parents.  Parents will be informed of the program and the means for students to report bullying acts toward them or other students.  They will also be told that to help prevent bullying at school they should encourage their children to:

1. Report bullying when it occurs;

2. Take advantage of opportunities to talk to their children about bullying;

3. Inform the school immediately if they think their child is being bullied or is bullying other students;

4. Watch for symptoms that their child may be a victim of bullying and report those symptoms.

5. Cooperate fully with school personnel in identifying and resolving incidents.

Prohibiting Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (Investigation Procedures)

The following procedures will be used by any person for the filing, processing, and resolution of a reported incident of harassment, intimidation, bullying, or threatening behavior. The procedures are to be followed by the administration of the school district in an effort to determine the severity of the incident and the potential to result in future violence.

Definition

"Harassment, intimidation, and bullying" means any gesture;  written or verbal expression, electronic communication, or physical act that a reasonable person should know will harm another student, damage another student's property, place another student in reasonable fear of harm to the student's person or damage the student’s property, insult or demean any student or group of students in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school’s educational mission or the education of any student.  Harassment, Intimidation, and bullying include, but are not limited to, gestures, written, verbal, or physical acts, or electronic communications.

"Electronic communication" mean the communication of any written, verbal, or pictorial information by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, a cellular telephone or other wireless communication device, or a computer.

"Threatening behavior" means any pattern of behavior or isolated action, whether or not it is directed at another person, that a reasonable person would believe indicates potential for future harm to students, school personnel, or school property.

Procedures

The procedure for investigating reported incidents of, harassment, intimidation, and bullying or threatening behavior, is as follows:      -                         ·           ·

1. The matter should immediately be reported to the building principal. If the bullying involved an electronic communication, a printed copy of the communication as well as any identifying information such as e-mail address or web address shall be provided to the building principal.  As much detailed information as possible should be provided to the building principal in written form to allow for a thorough investigation of the matter.

2. Upon receipt of a written report, the building principal shall contact the superintendent and begin an investigation to determine the severity of the incident and the potential for future violence.

3. If, during the course of the investigation, it appears that a crime may have been committed the building principal or superintendent shall notify local law enforcement and request that the alleged victim also contact law enforcement to report the matter for potential criminal investigation.

4. If it is determined that the school district's discipline code has been violated, the building principal shall follow district policies regarding the discipline of the student.

5. Upon completion of the investigation, the principal or superintendent may recommend that available community mental health care options be provided to the student, if appropriate. This may include information about the types of support services available to the student bully.  Victim and any other students affected by the prohibited behavior. If such a recommendation is made, the administration shall request disclosure of any information that indicates an explicit threat to the safety of students or school personnel provided the disclosure of information does not violate the provisions or requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Section 2503 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Section 1376 of Title 59 of Oklahoma Statutes, or any other state or federal laws relating to the disclosure of confidential Information

Discipline Policy

The school's primary goal is to educate, not discipline. However, when the behavior of an individual student comes in conflict with the rights of others, corrective actions are necessary for the benefit of the individual and of the school.

By Oklahoma Statutes, the teacher of a child attending a public school shall have the same right as a parent or guardian to control and discipline such child as in attendance or in transit to or from the school or any other school function authorized by the school district or classroom presided over by the teacher.

The goal of this disciplinary policy is to correct the misconduct of the individual and to promote adherence by that student and by other students to the policies and regulations of the district.

Faculty response to student misconduct is a matter directly influencing the morale of the entire student body. As such, all students will be treated in a fair and equitable manner. Disciplinary action will be based on a careful assessment of the circumstances surrounding each infraction.

Examples of the circumstances are: The student's attitude, the seriousness of the offense, and its potential effect on other students, among other things.

In administering discipline, consideration will be given to alternative methods of punishment to insure that the most effective discipline is administered in each case. In all disciplinary actions, the faculty will be mindful of the fact that they are dealing with individual personalities. The faculty will consider consultation with parents on disciplinary measures that might prove most effective in particular instances.

In considering alternatives for disciplinary action, the faculty and administration of Navajo Public School will be using items from the following:

1. Conference with student  documentation

2. Assignment to the classroom at noon

3. Work assignments

4. Cleaning assignments

5. Retention at lunch

6. Zero hour

7. Staying after school

8. In-house detention

9. Corporal punishment

10. Probationary period

11. Parental conference / advise parent

12. Isolation

13. Suspension

14. Expulsion

15. Remove from class or group (temp/permanent)

16. Financial restitution

17. Referral to other social agencies

18. Involve law enforcement

19. Alternative School

20. Any other disciplinary action deemed appropriate under the circumstances.

We would like to emphasize that the alternatives for discipline will include the items listed above, but will not be limited to that list. Nor should it be misconstrued in any way that this list reflects an order or sequence of events as to how disciplinary actions will take place.

Excessive discipline encounters may result in one being prohibited from participating in extracurricular events.

Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232h, requires Navajo Schools to notify the parents and obtain consent to allow parents to opt their child out of participating in certain school activities. These activities include a student survey, analysis, or evaluation that concerns one or more of the following eight areas (“protected information surveys”):

1. Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or student’s parents;

2. Mental or psychological problems of the student or student’s family;

3. Sex behavior or attitudes;

4. Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;

5. Critical appraisals of others with whom respondents have chosen family relationships;

6. Legally recognized privileged relationships, such as with lawyers, doctors, or ministers;

7. Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or parents; or

8. Income, other than as required by law to determine program eligibility.

This requirement also applies to the collection, disclosure or use of student information for marketing purposes (“marketing surveys”), and certain physical exams and screenings.