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In light of new law, WB school officials assess harassment at all levels
by Kandi Baylor · News · March 14, 2007
Earlier this month, the Iowa House and Senate voted to pass a bill relating to the establishment of state and school anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies. Gov. Chet Culver signed the bill into law last Monday.
The new law, Senate File 61, sets a Sept. 1 deadline for local school boards to adopt a policy against harassment and bullying in schools, on school property and at any school function or school-sponsored activity, regardless of its location.
“Senate File 61 is primarily to modify the wording of the current law that does not specifically address ‘sexual orientation’,” said Kevin Uhde, principal at Hoover Elementary.
Uhde believes that religious belief plays a major role in the change to state law, because some religions condemn homosexuality.
“Some do not support the change because of their religious beliefs,” he said. “Changing the wording is necessary if some people are more bound to their religious beliefs than they are to civic or constitutional rights. For those reasons, the policy needs to be specific in order to protect the rights of children.”
Passage of the new law prompted a review of West Branch’s anti-harassment policy, which already includes the words “sexual orientation.” Although that change was made by the West Branch School Board in December 2005, the change was not added to the school’s policy books until last week because of a clerical error.
Yet harassment at schools is not confined to students of a particular sexual orientation. It’s an issue that must be dealt with at all grade levels, whatever the motive.
“Harassment is wrong, no matter why a person is harassed,” said Sara Oswald, principal at West Branch Middle School.
Elementary
In elementary, harassment is usually more of an “awareness issue” than it is a deliberate act. When it occurs, all parties are invited in to discuss the situation. Many times, elementary students aren’t aware the behavior is harassment or bullying — they’re just repeating something they’ve heard elsewhere.
“Do you know what most kids say?” said Uhde. “That is what we do at home, or in our play group, backyard, etc.”
At that point, the whole incident becomes an opportunity for the child to learn exactly what harassment or bullying is. SF 61 defines “harassment” and “bullying” as any conduct toward a student that is based on any actual or perceived trait or characteristic of the student, which creates a hostile school environment.
Definitions don’t mean much to an elementary school student. Uhde tries to address the situation from a child’s perspective. He doesn’t presume to know what might be appropriate at a child’s home, but there are a different set of rules in a school environment. To emphasize this point, Uhde uses an analogy most elementary students can relate to.
“You wear a swimming suit to the pool because that is appropriate in that environment,” Uhde said. “You are going to swim, get wet, and play in the sun. You wouldn’t wear your swimming suit to school because there is no pool. It wouldn’t be appropriate and you would be embarrassed.” Uhde goes on to explain, “A lot of times when you harass or bully someone they ‘feel’ embarrassed like that. It isn’t appropriate to behave that way here.”
Uhde believes that when certain behaviors are acceptable outside of school, it is harder for the kids to comprehend why it is not OK to act that way at school. That is why the school has programs like “Character Counts!” and posters related to bullying on hallway walls. West Branch has adopted a “no tolerance” approach to these types of issues. This approach has helped the elementary to raise awareness and teach tolerance at an early age.
Middle school
How much of what is learned in elementary versus what is learned outside of school is questionable by the time kids reach middle school. Sara Oswald, principal at West Branch Middle School, reports that her staff deals with harassment issues “daily.”
Her first line of defense is also to talk about the situation with all parties. “We try to encourage those involved to talk it out and learn something from it, ” said Oswald.
Although it is an issue that she deals with daily, there are no easy solutions. Many students are intimidated by filing complaints. Sometimes the staff perception of what is happening is different from the students. In some cases, the reporting of harassment is used as a way to threaten other kids.
“Some kids are very knowledgeable about the reporting of harassment and how the system works,” Oswald said. “Sometimes the process itself is used as a weapon. A student may threaten to file harassment charges as an intimidation to another student.”
Then there are students who misunderstand the policy completely. “One student filed a harassment complaint from their student policy manual,” Oswald said, “and thought they couldn’t file anymore complaints because they already used the form.”
When there is harassment occurring, many times the students are intimidated to the point that they don’t report anything. “They worry it might make things worse,” said Oswald. “But if we don’t know about it, we can’t fix it.”
There are procedures in place to address retaliation, including more severe consequences than the initial complaint warranted.
It is a problem that is not easily addressed or even understood. “Just this week the staff had a lengthy discussion based on results from an Iowa Youth Survey that addressed bullying,” Oswald said. “One of the biggest hurdles is to understand ‘perception’ of harassment from a student’s point of view.”
Oswald is currently researching ways to engage students in these types of conversations. She also would like to see a more structured program as far as staff development to address the complexity of these issues.
One belief the middle school and elementary principals share is that a lot of these incidents are perpetrated by outside influences.
“This is not ‘Survivor’,” said Oswald, referring to the popular TV show in which competitors devise schemes behind each other’s backs and form alliances to get rid of people they don’t like. “We’re not here to vote someone off the island.”
But many times, that is how it feels for students. Oswald also blames MTV and similar programming for the lack of sensitivity in the students she deals with. “Have you ever seen ‘My Super Sweet 16’?” asks Oswald. It is a popular show in which rich, spoiled girls go so far as to hire someone to come to school and hand out birthday invitations, taking great care to leave certain ‘undesired’ guests out. Oswald sees scenes similar to that played out in West Branch’s hallways.
“The students are to the point that it is acceptable to call each other names and treat each other disrespectfully,” she said. “Then five minutes later, they walk around the school with their arms around each other.”
High school
By the time the students attend high school, they aren’t as eager to report incidents of harassment, according to Principal Steve Hennesy. “Usually by the time I hear about it, the kids have worked it out on their own.” He believes the students know that the harassment procedures are in place and are available, but look for another solution.
“Often times, they believe going to the principal will just be one more thing to be resented for,” said Hennesy.
“It’s tough for kids. I don’t hear about many isolated incidents. By the time it comes to my attention, it has been ongoing and they haven’t been able to work it out.”
When asked if it is important to specifically include sexual orientation in the harassment policy, Hennesy is ambivalent.
“On one hand, the current wording addresses everything. As far as harassment goes, you will always have some,” he said. “In our school, it’s not usually gender-related. It is more personality conflicts or one student is different enough from a group that they feel isolated. Basically, our kids are better than most.”
Addressing harassment
Changing the specific wording to current policies is not likely to have much of an impact on day-to-day dealings with harassment. “Can we eliminate harassment? I don’t think we can,” said Superintendent Craig Artist. “The whole issue is very complex and difficult.”
“Over the last couple of years, we have changed our policies to make it easier for kids to report. I believe striving to eliminate harassment and bullying is commendable, but most harassment is not visible.” Artist adds, “Physical intimidation is easy to determine; emotional intimidation is more subtle. Add to that cyber-bullying. The internet makes it even more complex.”
The administration and staff are dedicated to addressing the issues. “We are constantly brainstorming for ways to bring more awareness, alertness and sensitivity to the problem,” said Artist.
Artist believes that we are fortunate in West Branch. “The benefit of a smaller school is that problems are easier to address.”
Administrators agree that programs implemented by the government may not be the solution to the harassment problem; amendments and law verbiage may not be where the solution lies.
One common trait administrators at all levels recognize is the impact society has on students. What kind of change is needed to eliminate harassment and bullying in school? There is no easy answer, but Hennesy provides some insight.
“Kids imitate what big people do,” he said.
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