By ALICIA LEONARD
DeFuniak Springs, Fla. – This past week the Herald/Breeze sat down with Walton County School Superintendent Carlene Anderson and district Attendance Safety Officer Danny Graham to discuss bullying and harassment in local schools.
Having a safe learning environment is a right every student deserves, Anderson told the Herald/Breeze. “I want my children – and I call them my children – I want my children to feel safe and if there are incidences that happen to them that we didn’t see coming, we want them to believe that we are going to take care of it. I would not want my own child to go to school and feel unsafe and I don’t want anyone else’s to either.”
Some local citizens have complained publicly that once an incident happens in the local school district, they often don’t hear any more information about it. Much of that may be attributed to certain federal restrictions public schools have to abide by.
The district as well as its employees deal with restrictions and limitations under federal laws such as The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guarding privacy for students and minors that most private citizens do not have to follow.
Policy changes are fluid as new requirements from the state legislature roll down to the district at the end of each session year. District departments are compiling and sifting through mandated changes in the student policy and those will be presented to the board for a vote at a future date.
One new change is a directive for continuing education requirements that include helping educators and staff see the more subtle signs of bullying and harassment that may go undetected.
School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR) is one way districts can connect with the state in an ongoing assessment of each districts’ issues.
“If there is a bullying complaint, whether it is substantiated or not, that report still goes to Tallahassee,” Graham said.
“Bullying and harassment or just an attack, and their definition from the state are very different than I think some might believe. Bullying is systematically and chronically inflicting psychological or physical hurt or distress which is invasive enough to intimidate or cause a hostile environment,” said Anderson. It is also from one child or group that chronically causes this environment, according to state definitions.
“There is one exception to that and that is cyber-bullying. What happens with that is it might only be one incident but it is pictured, videoed and spread so every time that is spread or shared that’s humiliation to the victim,” added Graham.
“Just because the state has their definitions, and if something doesn’t quite meet those definitions doesn’t mean there’s not disciplinary actions. Sometimes one student hitting another is an assault. That we handle. We handle every disciplinary action. Does not matter if it fits or does not fit bullying and harassment. But when it comes to bullying and harassment, there are state and local policies, our policies that we have put in place to address those two types of discipline. But any discipline gets handled. I have a lot of options and can be creative. The board encourages me to be creative, it’s just that I can’t tell anyone due to the protection of the confidentially of the person who is being disciplined. FERPA says that if he hits you I can discipline him, but I can’t tell you what happened to him. And if you don’t know that then you just assume I swept it under the rug. FERPA is a federal law that prohibits me from discussing it with anyone but that student and his or her parents or legal guardians. Can that parent go and tell it to the other parent? Absolutely. That’s a family decision, but the superintendent can’t. It’s important that we have ethics and a federal law that says we protect children’s confidentially for grades, behaviors and everything else. That’s a piece I feel is really important that parents and guardians understand,” Anderson said.
She added, “All discipline issues are addressed with the teacher and administrative staff for that school and it often goes up the ladder to me if it involves major infractions and zero tolerance issues. All other issues are under the authority of the principal unless it’s an action so heinous that the principal and I decide it’s enough to go to the board for a recommendation. So, we have minor infractions that are handled by the principal, major infractions that can be handled by the principal, me or the board, and zero tolerance which goes to the board.”
Anderson also called for parents to remember that they and their children have certain rights outside of the district. “They have civil rights. They and their children have civil rights that don’t involve the school. When we have something major that happens with a student, we handle the discipline as outlined by our code of conduct, and the parent can go other routes if they choose, but that choice isn’t ours. They always have that option. They may be able to see more happening on the criminal or civil side than on ours and that’s why we often take such a hit on these issues. We don’t send out press releases on a student discipline, nor can we. No one, including the parent of the other child involved, can be privy to another student’s discipline.”
One way students and others can alert administration of an issue is to fill out a complaint form located on page 56 of the student code of conduct. The form can be filled out by anyone and they can be confidential if the person is concerned with making the report.
What else can parents, students, teachers and basically anyone do to help other students being bullied or dealing with harassment?
“Tell someone,” responds Graham. “Tell your teacher, tell your SRD, tell an adult, but don’t be quiet. You should not have to be afraid to come to school. Ninety-three percent of the kids we deal with are very good kids. They all are really, but the other six or seven percent take up about 50 percent of our time. They are kids. They might be dealing with something we don’t know about or they don’t feel it’s safe to share. But they all deserve a safe learning environment.”
Anderson agreed, “Every student deserves to be free from fear that someone is going to harm them when they come to school. A child should never have to be afraid to come to school. We can’t take all their fears away, but we can assure them we are doing our best to provide them with a safe place to learn, a place free from fear.”
The Herald/Breeze will pick up this community discussion of bullying and harassment issues if incidents or questions arise. If you have a story to share on bullying or school issues, email Alicia@dfsheraldsite.wpenginepowered.com.
The district calendar as well as the student code of conduct and a form to report bullying can be found on the district’s web site at www.walton.k12.fl.us.