Staff in the McFarland School District are committed to providing a safe, secure, and healthy environment that allows all students to maximize their learning potential. The board of education and school staff consider bullying to be detrimental to the health and safety of students and disruptive to the educational process.
What is bullying?
The Centers for Disease Control defines bullying as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths, who are not siblings or current dating partners, that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm”.
Three consistent components of bullying are:
imbalance of physical or emotional power,
repeated across time or student who was bullied, and
intent to cause physical or emotional harm.
Bullying can be physical (e.g., hitting, kicking), verbal (e.g., name-calling, threatening), or social/relational (e.g., purposeful exclusion, spreading rumors) and can occur in person or electronically (cyberbullying).
Are staff trained?
Schools are successful when they help children grow academically, socially, and emotionally. For this to happen, it is imperative that we have a safe environment that is supportive and conducive to growth. By setting clear social and behavioral expectations, it is our goal to create an atmosphere for learning. The McFarland School District takes bullying very seriously, including all instances of perceived bullying. These are documented, investigated, and addressed by building administration and student services staff. Numerous efforts have been initiated with our student body and staff to bring greater awareness to this topic, which includes our efforts to continue developing stronger student to student and staff to student connections.
What can caregivers do?
To be most effective, bullying prevention efforts are the shared responsibility of caregivers, staff, and community. Caregiver involvement in the school sets a positive example for children. As a caregiver, you can:
Discuss the seriousness and negative effects of bullying behaviors.
Work together with the school to develop a consistent approach to bullying behaviors.
Set a good example. Children learn more by actions than from words.
Contact the school to report bullying concerns that your child shares with you.
What is school policy on bullying?
Here is more information about our bullying policy.
What bullying prevention work is being done?
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. During the month of October, each school will engage in a variety of learning opportunities regarding bullying prevention and reporting with our students. Beyond the month of October we will continue our commitment to social-emotional learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as these initiatives have a direct impact on maintaining a positive school climate for all students.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the principal of your child’s school to share concerns and ideas and discuss this topic further
