Denair Unified School District

Bully Prevention

Be Someone's Herotitle

Bullying Definedtitle

To prevent the misidentification of bullying behaviors, it is important to understand that Education Code 48900(r) defines bullying as -- Any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including made in writing or by means of an reasonable pupil electronic act including one or more of the following:

Sex Harassment (48900.2)Hate Violence (48900.3)Threats, harassment, intimidation (48900.4)

Further, bullying includes one or more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following: Education Code 48900 (r)

Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that pupil's or those pupils' person or property.

Causing a reasonable pupil or pupils to experience a substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.

Causing a reasonable pupil or pupils to experience substantial interference with his or her academic performance.

Causing a reasonable pupil or pupils to experience substantial interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.

These acts can be reasonably perceived as being dehumanizing, intimidating, hostile, humiliating, threatening, or otherwise likely to evoke fear of physical harm or emotional distress and may be motivated either by bias or prejudice based upon any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression; or a mental, physical or sensory disability or impairment; or by any other distinguishing characteristic.

Indicators of Discriminating, Intimidating, Harassing, and Bullying Behaviors

Indicators of Discriminating, Intimidating, Harassing, and Bullying Behaviorstitle

The District recognizes that often conflicts can be learning opportunities for students to develop resilience and problem solving skills that will help them to successfully navigate through life. Therefore, school staffs assess conflicts between children through a lens of safety, child development, age, school level, legal parameters and other factors to determine when problematic behaviors become bullying. Behaviors which constitute bullying may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Verbal: Hurtful name-calling, teasing, gossiping, making threats, making slurs or epithets, making rude noises, or spreading hurtful rumors.

Nonverbal: Posturing, making gang signs, leering, staring, stalking, destroying property, insulting or threatening notes, using graffiti or graphic images, or exhibiting inappropriate and/or threatening gestures or actions.

Physical: Hitting, punching, pushing, shoving, poking, kicking, tripping, blocking egress, strangling, hair pulling, fighting, beating, pinching, slapping, "pantsing", biting, spitting, or destroying property.

Emotional (Psychological): Rejecting, terrorizing, extorting, defaming, intimidating, humiliating, blackmailing, manipulating friendships, isolating, shunning, ostracizing, using peer pressure, or rating or ranking personal characteristics.

Cyber-bullying: Sending insulting or threatening messages by phone, e-mail, Web sites, or any other electronic or written communication. This policy pertains to cyber-bullying that is related to school activity or attendance and is directed toward a pupil or school personnel.

Bullying Prevention Resources

Bullying Prevention Resourcestitle

Across the nation, bullying has become one of the primary issues of concern within K-12 education. It is important that incidents of bullying and harassment, especially as they may relate to disability, race/ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, gender expression, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation, be addressed and investigated seriously. Best practices, effective strategies, interventions, and resources to prevent and address bullying can be found below.

Resources: