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Bullying Down in Hopatcong Schools

Superintendent says results of anti-bullying report 'pretty amazing.'

 

Hopatcong recorded seven incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying from January to June, according to the biannual bullying released by the school recently.

That number was down five incidents from the first half of the year as the district adjusted to the state's new anti-bullying law, which schools to crack down, record and follow up on incidents of harassment, bullying and intimidation—even if they occur off school grounds or on the Internet. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights also forced districts to establish anti-bullying committees in each school.

Click to the right to see the full report.

The incidents were contained to the middle school (3) and high school (4), the report said. Borough elementary schools reported no instances of harassment, intimidation and bullying, the report said.

Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said the low amount of bullying incidents reported were "pretty amazing."

"And I think it's because we're doing a very good job of working on student discipline," he said. "So do we have incidents of inappropriate touching occasionally? Yes we do. Do we have some pushing and shoving and disagreements between students occasionally? Yes, we do. But we don't have those kinds of hardcore incidents where students are going after students for some perceived characteristic and I'm very pleased about that."

Under the law, the district had to create so-called safety committees of teachers and administrators in each building.

"We have a safety committee that addresses any patterns of misbehavior," he said. "We take a good look at interpersonal relationships between students and we try to teach students how not to get into picking on each other."

Related Topics: Bullying, Charles Maranzano, Schools, anti-bullying, and anti-bullying bill of rights

Dee

11:03 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012

I have a very hard time believing this. I know more than a handful of people who had complaints of bullying and harassment.

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KA706

10:34 pm on Thursday, July 26, 2012

It is possible people reported instances of "bullying," but the follow-up investigations by the schools must have proved that these occurrences did not fit the definition of HIB under the new law. I am on a School Safety Committee in a public NJ school. Anyone can report anything they want to the school. But, if the event doesn't fall under the law, then it isn't reported in the same manner publicly as these have been in the article. Regardless of if it falls under the law or not, there is still a LONG paper trail for everything that is reported to schools by parents, teachers, students, members of the community. That is why it is imperative the town is educated on this law. Things are reported all the time that are not actually HIB, but then the school still has to use the time, energy, resources, and paper to investigate it because that is what the law tells us to do. People need to know when to report something as "bullying," and when not to.

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