HOULTON, Maine — Officials in RSU 29 are optimistic that newly approved policies on bullying will provide the district with better tools to handle incidents if they should arise.
At Monday night’s regular meeting, the RSU 29 school board unanimously approved several bullying policies which will help administrators and teachers to better deal with cases of bullying. Superintendent Mike Hammer said the policies are not the direct result of any one particular incident at any of the district’s schools.
“It was a state requirement, under a new law, that schools have to update their bullying policies,” he explained. “It’s a very comprehensive document, adding in language such as gender identity, socio-economic status and a lot of other factors that were not specifically targeted before.”
In essence, the new document is a “zero tolerance” policy designed to keep students free from the effects of bullying whether they are at school or at home.
The policy states, “The board believes that bullying, including cyberbullying, is detrimental to student well-being and to student learning and achievement. It interferes with the mission of the schools to educate their students and disrupts the operations of the schools. Bullying affects not only students who are targets, but also those who participate in and witness such behavior.”
Bullying includes such things as written, oral or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination directed at student or students, the policy states. Cyberbullying is bullying through the use of technology, such as posting on the Internet or through cellular phone messages.
“For the purpose of this policy, bullying does not mean mere teasing, put downs, ‘trash talking,’ trading of insults or beliefs, so long as such expression is not lewd, profane or does not interfere with students’ opportunity to learn, the instructional program, or the operations of the schools,” the policy states.
Josh Sullivan and Danielle Provost, student representatives on the RSU 29 school board, were asked to bring back some input from their peers on the policies. Both students stated that most of the peers they spoke with were in favor of the policy, provided the school enforced disciplinary actions.
Houlton Southside School Principal Tiffany Karnes noted that students who filed reports of bullying in the past may not have known of any disciplinary actions because of confidentiality.
Hammer noted the intent of the policy is to protect students, while still affording some degree of freedom of expression.
“There really still is a fine line between kids ‘being kids’ and bullying,” he said. “Sometimes it is a mean act and other times it is bullying. It’s not (a black and white issue), although people like to make it that.”
If a student feels they are being bullied, each school now has a formal, written complaint form that will document the incident. That form will be retained so that a record of the incident is on file. The report also details what course of action was taken.
“The more serious complaints would obviously come to me,” Hammer said. “The culture of all schools needs to change so that we treat each other better.”
In other agenda items, Hammer noted that the district now has a new, digital phone system that has placed telephones in every classroom. The phone update was accomplished thanks in part to the federal E-Rate program, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission. The E-Rate program assists schools and libraries financially with obtaining affordable telecommunications and Internet access.
In the past, each classroom could contact the main office via an antiquated intercom system, which did not always work as well as it should have.
“The new phone system is something we have wanted to do in the past because it is a safety issue,” Hammer said. “Any teacher can now call 9-1-1 right from the classroom. In the event we are in a lock-down, we now have more communication with each classroom.”
Hammer noted the phones are not intended for the general public to call into a specific classroom.
The next meeting of the RSU 29 school board is set for Monday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m.
