Facts About Bullying

In October, 2010, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education issued the attached Dear Colleague letter concerning the school's obligation to protect students from student-on-student harassment on the basis of sex (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972), race, color, and national origin (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), and disability (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). The letter clarifies the relationship between bullying and discriminatory harassment, provides examples of harassment, and illustrates how a school should respond in each case.

Curtis Creek School District upholds our obligation to protect students from student-on-student harassment. The District will not tolerate any act of intimidation/bullying including direct physical contact, gestures, comments, threats or actions, either written, verbal or physical, which cause, threaten to cause or are likely to cause bodily harm, social isolation, manipulation, or personal degradation at school, at any school activity whether on or off campus, while traveling to and from school or a school sponsored activity, or during the lunch/recess period.

Students are encouraged to report bullying and acts of discrimination immediately to an adult. Furthermore, bullying off campus or on the internet may also have consequences at school. Parents are encouraged to implement parental control features on cell phones and limit or at least be aware of their student's "profile", if any, on social networks such as Facebook. Sometimes, bullying of other students occurs on line in the form of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the use of technology for social cruelty, which can include harassment, impersonation, denigration, trickery, exclusion and stalking. Parents should visit the following website to see what kinds of ways students can bully on line. Visit http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/.

Furthermore, our staff supports positive family pledges and school rules to prevent bullying on and off campus. Review the Curtis Creek Annual Notification to Parents with your child to reinforce school expectations, and visit http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/ for more information about what kids can do...and what adults can do to help.