East Hampton Superintendent Clarifies What Constitutes Bullying

By all accounts Phoebe Prince was a bright and charming 15-year-old. She was the new kid in town, and to make her transition just a little more difficult, she was a freshman.

Prince and her family had recently moved to South Hadley, Mass., from Ireland. At first, things seemed to be going well for her at South Hadley High School. She was fitting in, popular with the boys, too.

Then it all changed. Three months of humiliation, relentless verbal abuse and threats of harm followed. At school, walking home, by text or phone call, she couldn't escape it. The bullying became intolerable.

When her younger sister found Phoebe hanging lifeless in the stairwell of her home on Jan. 14, 2010, the community was in shock.

Similar incidents of bullying that ended in suicide had already dotted the national landscape. Bullying was on the rise and with tragic results.

With the introduction of new technology and websites over the past decade, students like Prince can no longer escape bullying by going home. Now they can be a target seven days a week and at all hours of the day. Through text messages, Twitter, Facebook and other means, anyone could be a bully without having to look their subject in the eye. And anyone could become a victim, too. Post the "wrong" picture on Facebook and in no time a thread laced with insulting and hurtful comments might exist.

Some school districts have been slow to respond to the impact technology has had on bullying. It is a fine line, since a school's jurisdiction is limited to what occurs on school grounds, the bus and school activities. Still, cyber bullying and texting can easily penetrate school grounds. In some other cases, districts even lacked a clear policy on bullying that went on under their own roofs. Such appears to be the case in South Hadley. School administrators denied any negligence and no criminal charges were filed, but District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel called their actions, or inactions, troublesome.

It was Prince's death, however, that sparked a movement to reign in bullying through tougher state laws, more proactive school board policies and greater awareness by parents.

In the past year, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York have signed tougher anti-bullying laws.

In Connecticut, anti-bullying measures were already in effect when they were revised in 2008. PA 08-160, which repealed CGS 10-222d, the existing bullying statute, on July 1, 2008, added 10-222g and 10-222h, which were new requirements and redefined what was considered bullying (see pdf).

East Hampton revised its bullying policy (see pdf) in December 2008 to comply with the changes to state law.

As important as new and tougher laws are, it is imperative for parents and school administrators alike to be proactive in fighting this problem as well as working together and communicating to prevent the next Phoebe Prince.

East Hampton School Superintendent Dr. Judith Golden took that step at the last board of education meeting on Jan. 24.

As a result of recent discussions with others, Golden decided to clarify the district's policy on bullying with a letter to parents. Specifically, the letter addresses what constitutes bullying.

"There is a lot of confusion about what is and what is not bullying in the schools and I hope to clarify the issue with this letter," Golden said at the Jan. 24 meeting. "Writing the letter came out of conversations we've had with people."

The letter (see pdf) was sent home with students last week.

Golden took it a step further at the meeting, describing some of what each school offers in an effort to prevent, identify and address bullying or other behavioral issues.

• High School: The Semester Advisory Program on PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) talks about respect and courtesy toward others, and all students work in their advisory, which are groups of about 13 or 14 students. ... The National Honor Society Freshman Friends Program pairs a ninth grader with an 11th or 12 grader for mentorship and support.  Periodically, the upperclassman will touch base to make sure everything is OK. ... Bullying is in the ninth-grade health curriculum. ... Students involved in bullying are required to participate in conflict resolution following the incident.
• Middle School: Held a Rachel's Challenge presentation, which was a focus on bullying, and participated in PBIS, a program that recognizes respect, responsibility, compassion and pride on a daily basis. ... The school began the year meeting with all students and discussing behavioral expectations. ... Counseling staff meets for mediations whenever a situation warrants in the case of bullying or pre-bullying and the school acts swiftly and communicates with parents whenever a bullying situation looks to be arising.
• Center School: PBIS began this year with standard lessons for all students to develop respect, kindness and responsibility in the school setting. ... Second-step program, an evidence-based curriculum for empathy building and problem solving, is used as appropriate within classrooms. ... A New Friend Friday, also used within classrooms as appropriate, encourages students to get to know classmates, build tolerance and explore common interests. ... The health curriculum has several lessons, including video and conversations. ... Grade 5 has the Dare Program, which discusses peer pressure and friendship foundations. ... There also is a peer mediation program overseen by the health teacher in which Grade 5 students are selected and trained to be peer mediators.
• Memorial School: Has friendship groups that help students with social skills, teaches students to read language and body cues and meets with students about appropriate social interactions. ... Receives a special friends grant from the United Way, which is a non-instructional, general education program that helps with social interactions for students who are shy or overly aggressive. Child associates are paid through the grant and they work under the supervision of the school psychologist and a social worker. ... The Shine program recognizes students who show positive behavior skills.

Dr. Golden's letter might have only intended to define bullying, but together with her description of some of what each school is doing to address the issue, she moved bullying back into the forefront of the minds of parents, administrators, teachers and students. With continued communication and effort, as well as involved parenting, comments such as Darby O'Brien's can be kept out of the news.

“Things like this aren’t supposed to happen in South Hadley,’’ O'Brien, a high school parent, told The Boston Globe.

Parents should exercise caution when determining what is and isn't bullying. If they have doubts or any questions or concerns about bullying, they should contact school administration.