No one EVER deserves to be bullied!

Bullying, as defined by Indiana statute IC 20-33-8-.2, means overt, unwanted, repeated acts or gestures, including verbal or written communications or images transmitted in any manner (including digitally or electronically), physical acts committed, aggression, or any other behaviors, that are committed by a student or group of students against another student with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm the other targeted student and create for the targeted student an objectively hostile school environment that:

• places the targeted student in reasonable fear of harm to the targeted student's person or property

• has a substantially detrimental effect on the targeted student's physical or mental health

• has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted student's academic performance

• has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted student's ability to participate or benefit from services, activities and privileges provided by the school

Categories of Bullying:

• Physical: involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. It includes hitting/kicking/punching, spitting, tripping or pushing, taking or breaking someone’s things, and making mean or rude hand gestures.

• Verbal: involves saying mean things. It can include teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, or threatening to cause harm.

• Social/Relational: involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying involves telling other children not to be friends with someone, leaving someone out on purpose, spreading rumors about someone, or embarrassing someone in public.

• Electronic/Written Communication: involves cyber-bullying, collective or group note writing, any bullying undertaken through the use of electronic devices (computer, cell phones)

You can help stop bullying! Speak up! When you are willing to speak up about what you think is wrong, you can make a difference. If you speak up, others will be more willing to speak up too!

Cyberbullying, as defined by Indiana Statute IC 20-19-3-11.5, refers to bullying (IC 20-33-8-.2) that occurs through the use of data or computer software accessed through a:

• computer

• computer system

• computer network

• cellular telephone or other wireless or cellular communications device

The most common places where cyberbullying occurs are:

• Social Media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter

• SMS (Short Message Service) also known as Text Message sent through devices

• Instant Message (via devices, email provider services, apps, and social media messaging features)

• Email

SPECIAL CONCERNS

With the prevalence of social media and digital forums, comments, photos, posts, and content shared by individuals can often be viewed by strangers as well as acquaintances. The content an individual shares online – both their personal content as well as any negative, mean, or hurtful content – creates a kind of permanent public record of their views, activities, and behavior. This public record can be thought of as an online reputation, which may be accessible to schools, employers, colleges, clubs, and others who may be researching an individual now or in the future. Cyberbullying can harm the online reputations of everyone involved – not just the person being bullied, but those doing the bullying or participating in it. Cyberbullying has unique concerns in that it can be:

Persistent – Digital devices offer an ability to immediately and continuously communicate 24 hours a day, so it can be difficult for children experiencing cyberbullying to find relief.

Permanent – Most information communicated electronically is permanent and public, if not reported and removed. A negative online reputation, including for those who bully, can impact college admissions, employment, and other areas of life.

Hard to Notice – Because teachers and parents may not overhear or see cyberbullying taking place, it is harder to recognize.

Mean is: Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).

Mean behavior very much aims to hurt or depreciate someone. Kids are mean to each other when they criticize clothing, appearance, intelligence, coolness or just about anything else they can find to denigrate. Meanness also sounds like words spoken in anger -- impulsive cruelty that is often regretted in short order. Very often, mean behavior in kids is motivated by angry feelings and/or the misguided goal of propping themselves up in comparison to the person they are putting down. Commonly, meanness in kids sounds an awful lot like:

• "Are you seriously wearing that sweater again? Didn't you just wear it, like, last week? Get a life."
  • "You are so fat/ugly/stupid."
  • "I hate you!"

Bullying is: Intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power.

Experts agree that bullying entails three key elements: an intent to harm, a power imbalance and repeated acts or threats of aggressive behavior. Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they keep doing it, with no sense of regret or remorse -- even when targets of bullying show or express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop. Bullying may be physical, verbal, relational or carried out via technology.