Taking proactive approach to harassment

WEBUTUCK — The specifics have not been revealed, but over the past few weeks various members of the Webutuck Central School District’s administration and Board of Education have made reference to recent incidents of harassment within the middle and high schools. That acknowledgement marks a decidedly “proactive approach by the district in dealing with bullying and harassment,� according to district Superintendent Lee Bordick.

Board of Education President Dale Culver said in an interview that there have been as many as a dozen incidents within the past year involving harassment of some kind. He would not go into the details of any individual incident, but confirmed that they included components of racial and sexual harassment, bullying and issues involving student-to-student and teacher-to-student harassment.

Bordick, in a separate interview, acknowledged two cases in particular during his time at Webutuck (he replaced David Paciencia at the start of 2010). However, he pointed out that while the individuals involved obviously found the harassment to be serious, these incidents were “not something that would be considered foreign to schools anywhere.�

Culver, when asked if the frequency of incidents was unusual for Webutuck, said that it was hard to compare.

“The current administration is being much more open with the board about day-to-day life at the school,� he said without elaborating.

At South Hadley High School, in Massachusetts, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince was allegedly harassed by classmates to the point where she took her own life. In the aftermath of her death, the state’s district attorney has brought charges against the students allegedly involved in the harassment and called the lack of response by the school in addressing the repeated instances of harassment “troublesome.�

The South Hadley case has become national news, catching the attention of school districts across the country.

“It made me sick to my stomach reading the reaction from the school and its board,� Culver said, referring to the school’s response that it had responded in a sufficient manner to reports of Phoebe’s harassment, “and realizing the usual subterfuge was continuing to be passed on.�

Culver called the Massachusetts incident an example of what he said has become commonplace for school administrations to put “deniability first and accountability second.

“The real answer to all this is to acknowledge that it occurs, and to stop pretending that it’s just kids beings kids,� he added.

The difficult question for Webutuck (and every school district) is whether it is doing enough to address individual incidents while working to prevent an environment that allows bullying and harassment to continue. Bordick said the incidents at Webutuck were not part of a pattern, and said that in at least one case a student had been suspended from school for a period of time as a result of his or her actions.

The superintendent said that if there are inadequacies in Webutuck’s response to incidents of harassment, they come from a weakness in the collective assessment of situations. He stressed that he felt that “individually, we have very strong people who are responsive.�

The culture of harassment has changed drastically in the last decade, Bordick acknowledged, especially with the advent of the Internet and cell phones. Harassment and bullying have become more “insidious� and “socially isolating,� he said, adding it’s difficult for staff to relate, having experienced very different circumstances themselves.

It’s increasingly difficult to make a distinction between incidents occurring at home and those happening during school hours, and that the signs and clues indicating there may be a problem are often “subtle� and “hidden,� said the superintendent.

A comment or incident may not warrant closer inspection on its own, Bordick said as an example, but if a teacher mentions it to another teacher and finds out the same thing is happening in another classroom, it could be indicative of a larger problem. That kind of staff communication isn’t happening as much as it needs to be, he continued, and the school will be working harder to make sure those meetings are happening.

“We need to create structures for students, faculty and parents,� Bordick said, and to create clear policies and operating principles for the district. “The goal for me would be that a Webutuck student can walk out of here and reflect upon his or her experience and say, ‘I was known, people cared about me and I felt comfortable and safe.’ Anything short of that is unacceptable.�

The superintendent also said there needs to be a progressive disciplinary policy that is educational but also shows that there are serious consequences for unacceptable behavior, including exclusion from school.

Culver said that in the next three months he would like to see every staff member be more aware of their environment and much more comprehensive in their follow up to incidents. He would also like to see the student body start to play more of a role in anti-bullying and harassment efforts.

Opening communication between staff and students is an essential part of Webutuck’s strategy, Bordick agreed. He acknowledged the current student government is “quiet,� and said that teachers and administrators have to play a much larger role in communicating with them and getting the students to act on their own.

“The ultimate goal is to empower the students,� he said. “Being neutral is still a form of bullying, and that’s not acceptable.�

Recently the school brought Rachel’s Challenge, an anti-bullying and harassment organization, to Webutuck for a series of presentations for middle school and high school students, as well as the local community. Webutuck’s own student journalism class covered the event (see related article on Page A4), revealing a feeling of pessimism among the student body that while Rachel’s Challenge was a worthy cause, those kinds of efforts won’t change how students behave at school.

“I think it does reflect a certain cynicism of our time,� Bordick said in response, “as well as a relationship between words and deeds. It’s about doing rather than saying, and [the students] have to experience that these things will be done.� He added that he appreciated the students’ candid remarks, and that they would only motivate him to make sure that efforts are successful.

It’s crucial to involve the community in these kinds of efforts, even if they don’t initially show as much interest as one might hope, Culver added.

“You have to keep going,� he said.