Ridgefield Schools Update Bullying Policy To Meet State Standards

“Hazing, bullying, menacing and abuse of students in any form or format is not acceptable behavior and is prohibited in Ridgefield Public Schools.”

As the and have come down on bullying in and out of school lately, Ridgefield schools are following suit as administrators commit to creating a policy that will both prevent bullying and provide criteria by which to define the oft-elusive term.

Although the subject has been addressed in the past, state mandates now require administrators to review the district priorities and construct a more thorough and comprehensive policy to address bullying in particular.

In its broad definition of bullying, the policy indicates the term encompasses any action causing harm to physical or emotional well-being of fellow students -- the newest addition to the policy is "cyberbullying," which prohibits these same actions as they might occur electronically.

Much of the discussion by the Board of Education has centered around how bullying is to be addressed on an individual level by faculty, staff and administrators.

One such precaution to be taken is the Safe School Climate Specialist, an employee to whom students may anonymously report bullying -- it's part of what the district is calling the Safe School Climate Plan, "a multi-faceted approach to improving overall school climate and to addressing the existence of bullying in Ridgefield Public Schools," according to the most recent draft of the plan.

Part of the plan is also to keep both parents and students in the loop as to how these reports may be made. Under the plan, notification would be in the Student-Parent Handbook, the Code of Conduct, the district web sites, , at the Ridgefield Board offices and other accessible places.

The plan requires school employees to report an act of bullying within one day to the Safe School Climate Specialist, and existing school staff will be appointed each year to head the district initiative.

As of now, Special Education Supervisor Karen Berasi is the "bullying czar" for the district, heading the policy drafts.

"It's really about changing the culture, not just punishing the culprits," Berasi said. "It's a chance for all of us to stand up and say we're going to have a culture of kindness."

The Safe School Climate Specialists in each school will help compile and maintain records of bullying once the policy is implemented, as well, allowing the district to react to changes and operate fluidly. Berasi said these data would be extremely important in keeping the policy up to date.

A large part of the policy deals with keeping parents involved on both sides of the bullying spectrum and to keep communication gates wide open. The same goes for teachers, who will be trained and made aware of how the policy works, according to Superintendent Deborah Low.

One aspect districts across the country are wrestling with are the relatively new efforts to prevent cyberbullying both in and out of school -- although the act of cyberbullying is explicitly prohibited in Ridgefield's policy and many others, there are undoubtedly some gray areas yet to confront on the ever-changing technological horizon.

But the district is optimistic that acts of bullying will decrease in number not just because of the change in policy but by renewed efforts to create a "safe school climate" in general.

"We're trying to create a culture of kids who say, "We don't do that here," said Asst. Superintendent Pat Michael.

"I think we know what to do -- there's a lot of research out there," Berasi said. "But we're still at the very beginning of addressing the problem."