Parents question district’s bullying policies

Following an incident in which a member of the Long Beach High School varsity swim team was nearly denied a chance to swim in the state championships when she was suspended for fighting back against an alleged bully, some residents called on school officials to enact stronger policies to combat bullying.

At the Jan. 10 Board of Education meeting, Long Beach resident Heidi Harris-Weitz told the board that in November, her niece — a swim team member whom she did not name — qualified for the state meet. But just two days before the competition, Harris-Weitz said, her niece was accosted and hit in the face by a bully in the school. When she fought back, both girls were suspended, according to Harris-Weitz, who criticized the district for its handling of the incident.

“The bully slapped my niece after verbally assaulting her,” she told the board. “My niece attempted to walk away several times. After she was slapped, my niece pulled the girl’s hair and went to report the incident. This was on video in a stairwell.”

Harris-Weitz was one of several parents who questioned the district’s policy on bullying at the meeting, saying that a more stringent set of rules is needed. “These bullying incidents are happening on a frequent basis,” she said.

Her niece and the other student were suspended for five days, she said, and as a result, her niece was told she would not be allowed to compete in the state championships. “My niece received equal punishment as the [bully],” Harris-Weitz said. She did not identify the alleged bully.

Harris-Weitz said she approached several school officials to protest the decision, including Superintendent David Weiss. “You’re right, it’s not fair, but I’m backing my principal,” she recalled Weiss saying.

“I asked for an emergency school board hearing,” she said. “He denied that. I had to call the police and file an incident report because the school wouldn’t stand by anything.”

After Harris-Weitz contacted her lawyer, she said school officials agreed to an emergency session, and the board ultimately granted her niece permission to go to the state meet. But, she said, the suspension was upheld.

“She was suspended for three days, but it was on hold for two,” Harris-Weitz said after the meeting. “They let her go to the state championship, and then she came back and continued the suspension.”

School officials did not comment on Harris-Weitz’s claims at the Jan. 10 meeting. When resident Jannine Gillespie asked if the district has a bullying policy, Weiss said that it has procedures in place to address the issue. “…We have a complete code of conduct and a set of disciplinary procedures that deal with incidents of harassment, that deal with incidents of violence, that deal with fighting,” he said. “The concept of bullying itself is a loaded term, and is interpreted through the eyes of the people involved in conflict.”

Gillespie asked Weiss how the district defines bullying. “In our eyes,” he responded, “at the moment, it’s interpreted as student-to-student conflict involving harassment, verbal abuse, physical abuse, that is ongoing as opposed to conflicts that are short-term …”

Weiss noted, however, that the district is waiting for the state to help it more clearly define the term. He cited New York state’s Dignity for All Students Act, which was signed into law in 2010 and takes effect on July 1.

According to the state Department of Education, the measure seeks to provide the state’s public-school students with “a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment and bullying on school property, a school bus and at a school function.”

“… [T]here are more specific policies that the state is formulating around harassment and bullying,” Weiss said. “We’re waiting for policies to be formulated before we put them into board policy. In the meantime, each of the buildings themselves deal with bullying …”

Laura Sahr, a coordinator of the Dignity Act, said that it does not specifically address bullying. “It focuses on incidents of discrimination and harassment,” she said. “Bullying is a form of harassment, but the word is not used throughout the law.”

Sahr added that guidance and model policies are currently being developed, and will eventually be shared with schools. “But they’re just not ready at this point,” she said.

Taking aim at bullying

The district’s code of conduct, according to its website, was last revised in January 2011. School board President Dr. Dennis Ryan said that it is always being updated. “It’s a policy that needs to be looked at every year,” he said. “One of the issues that came up [at the meeting] was, How do you handle bullies? That question will come up as long as public education endures.”

Board Vice President Roy Lester said that the code should address related issues such as cyber-bullying. “It’s a big problem,” he said. “I think they need to be examined. I would love to see better mediation as well. You teach kids to respect each other.”

Ryan said he believes officials have worked hard to address bullying, though he cast doubt on the use of mediation. “Mediation can’t be forced. It can’t be legislated,” he said. “But we can have policies to protect everyone … I think for the most part we do a good job.”

The district has taken a number of steps in recent years to address bullying. Last January, Jeremy Glicksman, an assistant Nassau County district attorney, spoke to more than 30 parents, students and staff at the high school about cyber-bullying, among other issues. The district also implemented a district-wide Character Education Program, designed to help students learn responsibility and become good-natured, well-rounded citizens.

George Krzeminski, whose 15-year-old daughter Maria was bullied at the high school last year, said that bullying remains a concern. With the help of school officials, Maria created an anti-bullying club to raise awareness of the issue.

“There’s a lot of kids involved,” Krzeminski said. “She would tell me these kids are getting bullied. If they don’t speak up, they’re going to get bullied. They need to come forward.”

He added that since she started the club, Maria has been excelling in school. “Her grades went up,” he said. “That’s because she’s not looking over her shoulder anymore. The bullies apologized to her. There definitely should be mediation.”

But Harris-Weitz called for further action. “After that meeting, we got a lot of phone calls from parents,” she said. “We want the district to write some kind of policy.”

Weiss declined to comment about the incident involving Harris-Weitz’s niece after the meeting, but said that the district continues to address bullying through a range of initiatives. “Bullying is an issue we’re addressing through a number of different means …,” he said. “The next area we will deal with, policy-wise, is our code of conduct and discipline. We’re going to be working on that publicly.”