11 Bullying Incidents Reported in Schools

The school district recorded 11 incidents of harassment, intimidation or bullying between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, Superintendent Charles Maranzano told the school board at its most recent meeting.

Under a new state law, school districts must report the number of times personnel investigated reports of harassment, intimidation or bullying. The rules were put in place last year following a student’s lawsuit against the Toms River school district, Maranzano said.

A school must investigate alleged incidents between students that involve gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, physical appearance or ancestry, he said.

Maranzano said these are not incidents that involve students violating the district code of conduct, but are those that meet the specific criteria stated in the new law.

“For a large district, our track record is pretty clean,” he said.

The high school had four reported incidents, three of which qualified as “HIB” offenses. The middle school reported six incidents, two of which qualified.

Durbin Avenue School reported one incident which did not meet the criteria, while Tulsa Trail and Hudson Maxim schools reported no such incidents.

Maranzano said the incidents mostly included comments about nationality.

The district's 2012 HIB report shows there were a total of 44 reported incidents, 19 of which were confirmed.