School bullying occurs when a student or group of students engages in written or verbal abuse expressed through written or electronic means, or physical conduct that occurs on school property, at a school-sponsored or school-related activity, or in a vehicle operated by the School and that: (1) has the effect or will have the effect of physically harming a student, damaging a student’s property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or of damage to the student’s property; (2) is sufficiently severe, persistent and pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, abusive environment for a student. Conduct is considered bullying if it (1) exploits an imbalance of power between the student perpetrator and the student victim through written or verbal expression or physical conduct; and (2) interferes with a student’s education or disrupts the operation of a school. Bullying is forbidden at AIMS.
Examples of Bullying:
Bullying of a student may include:
- Verbal bullying such as name calling, teasing, and mocking
- Intimidation such as playing dirty tricks, taking things from others without permission
- Leaving another person out of a group
- Emotional bullying such as tormenting, threatening gestures, ridiculing, hiding someone’s things
- Physical bullying such as pushing, kicking, punching, pinching, spitting, and tripping
- Sexual bullying
- Racial and religious bullying
- Cyber-bullying
Bullying can occur anywhere. It may happen in the classroom, playground, hallways, vans, and buses, etc. We encourage students to report any bullying to their teachers, school counselors or the administrators. All reports of bullying will be investigated. Students who bully can be placed on probation and may be suspended.
To effectively address bullying and cyber-bullying, parents and students must be partners with the school. Only by working together will we be able to reduce the incidents of bullying in our school.
The Anti-Bullying Policy aligns with the Mission Statement and ESLGs: Caring Citizen, Critical Thinker, Self-Manager and Exemplary Worker
