Bullying and Harassment/Intimidation

Hudson City School District is committed to providing a safe, positive, productive, and nurturing educational environment for all of its students. Harassment, intimidation, or bullying toward a student, whether by other students or staff is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated. 

The policies prohibiting hazing, dating violence, harassment, intimidation or bullying are included in the student handbooks. These prohibitions include aggressive behavior, physical, verbal, psychological abuse, and violence within a dating relationship on school property, on the school bus or at any school-sponsored activity.

Harassment/Intimidation

Hazing, bullying and/or dating violence means any incident of intentional written, verbal, graphic or physical acts, including electronically transmitted acts, either overt or covert, by a student or group of students toward other students/school personnel with the intent to haze, harass, intimidate, injure, threaten, ridicule or humiliate.

Unlawful harassment occurs when unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct is based upon an individual's protected class and when the conduct has the purpose or effect of:

• interfering with the individual's work or educational performance;
• creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive learning environment; or
• interfering with one's ability to participate in or benefit from an educational program or activity

Bullying

While there are a number of formal definitions for bullying, in order for a behavior to be identified as such, it must involve an imbalance of power and it must happen more than once or have the potential to be repeated. Bullying includes aggressive, repetitive behaviors, and an imbalance of power such as verbal or physical attacks, intentionally excluding someone from a group, spreading rumors or making threats.

Below are grade band level definitions that were developed by building teams and shared with students to increase understanding and awareness of bullying.  Building teams also created several age appropriate classroom bullying lessons to use with their students to explicitly address bullying.

Grades Pre-K-5

Bullying is doing or saying something unexpected or unsafe on purpose, multiple times to hurt someone, even after being told the behavior is harmful.  A person who bullies uses his / her power — such as age, physical strength, popularity — to control or harm others.  These events can feel unstoppable and could occur in person or online.  

Grades 6-12

What is Bullying? 

• • Purposeful, negative intentions 

  • Hurtful behavior toward another student (physically, socially, or emotionally)

  • Repeated, unwanted interactions 

  • Could occur in person or online/social media, on or off school grounds, and can happen outside of school hours 

  • Imbalance of power (for example: students who are older, are physically stronger, have access to embarrassing information, have more social status, or are part of a group that is singling out an individual)

Policies and Resources

Anti-Harassment Policy (po5517)

Bullying Policy (po5517.01)

ODE - Anti-Harassment/Intimidation and Bullying Resource

National Bullying Center (pacer.org)

National Criminal Justice Reference Service, U.S. Department of Justice, Internet Safety Information

StopBullying.gov