WW-P school officials have avoided discussion on the district’s cyber-bullying policies in the wake of the invasion of privacy scandal at Rutgers University involving two North graduates.
But activities aimed at educating students about the dangers of cyber-bullying and promoting tolerance seemed to permeate the list of activities planned during School Violence Awareness Week, held October 18 to 22.
School officials say, however, that they have not changed their focus because of the Rutgers case. Rather, they say, these activities have always been part of the district’s plans.
“We haven’t changed in response to the incidents at Rutgers,” said school board president Hemant Marathe. “We have always tried to be proactive and inform the kids that they have to be careful with new media.”
Marathe said that the district improves its initiatives every year, but has done nothing “out of the ordinary” or anything extra to address cyber-bullying, although it is including in the activities for School Violence Awareness Week.
During the board’s review of its annual Violence and Vandalism report on October 26, officials released figures that showed that incidents involving violence at the middle and high school levels increased from 20 in 2008-’09 to 33 in the 2009-’10 school year. The number of substance abuse incidents increased from 11 to 18. But vandalism fell from 14 to 9 reported incidents, while the number of incidents involving weapons fell from 5 to 4.
Of that total, four violent incidents took place at Community Middle, while one took place at Grover. At the high school level, there were 15 recorded incidents of violence at North and 13 at South.
“We did see an increase in violence, primarily at the high school level,” said David Aderhold, the assistant superintendent of pupil services.
Aderhold said that the district primarily saw an increase in those incidents involving ninth grade students and also found another trend involving declassified students — or students who were originally placed in special education classrooms but moved into mainstream classrooms. He said that the district was watching those trends.
There were no acts of vandalism reported at either middle school, but North recorded five incidents, while South recorded four. There was one incident involving a weapon at Community and three incidents involving a weapon at South.
There was one incident of substance abuse at Community Middle and three at Grover Middle. There were eight incidents of substance abuse at North and six at South.
Aderhold said all of the substance abuse incidents involved marijuana or drug paraphernalia possessions.
Aderhold added, however, that the number of incidents in the district was still far from the thousands that are reported in other, primarily urban, districts.
There was no cost to the district in damage done by vandalism in 2009-’10, a decrease from the $25,750 the district reported in damages during the prior school year.
Aderhold also said that the increase in violent incidents is not indicative of a larger trend, but rather is part of normal annual fluctuations.
The district provided a packet of information on the activities planned for School Violence Awareness Week. While the activities planned for the elementary level focused primarily on building a sense of community, conflict resolution, anti-bullying, problem-solving issues, and performing acts of kindness, the upper elementary, middle, and high school levels focused on tolerance and anti-bullying in the backdrop of the digital age.
At Millstone River School, activities included creating an anti-bullying poster, writing a poem about bullying, role-playing a bullying situation, and producing an anti-bullying brochure.
At both Millstone River and Village schools, students signed an anti-bullying pledge. At Village, students were taught anti-bullying lessons, including embracing student diversity, conflict resolution, and bullying prevention.
At Community Middle School, among the many activities were presentations on cyber-bullying and viewing a “You Can’t Take It Back” video. Students also created a poster to illustrate ways to counteract bullying. An anti-bullying class was conducted using PowerPoint presentations, streaming videos, and role-playing scenarios.
At Grover Middle School, activities also included anti-bullying messages and themes. The school invited the High School Pirate Players to perform “Bang, Bang, You’re Dead!” and “The Bully Show.” All students at Grover were also engaged in an Internet safety awareness program presented by West Windsor Detective Robert Garofalo.
At the high school level, the North faculty meeting addressed the protocol for crisis drills, as was the case in all schools, but it also addressed classroom management techniques to prevent incidents of bias-related comments.
District officials contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which is prosecuting the case against Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei (see story below) and invited Laura Callahan, of the MORE (Middlesex Out-Reach and Education) division of the prosecutor’s office to provide staff training on internet safety.
HiTops — a Mercer County non-profit organization that promotes adolescent health and well-being — was also contacted to provide student assemblies on acceptance “related to GLBTQ and other diversity issues, as well as internet safety,” the package stated.
In addition, “posters with positive messages regarding emotional safety will be created cooperatively by various student groups (GSA, Peer Leaders) to be displayed” during the Violence Awareness Week.
Each high school also created its own variation of a message about Internet safety. At North, the acronym KNIGHTS was used to state that “Know that Nothing on the Internet ever Goes away! Have respect for yourself and for others! Treat others as you would like to be treated. Stay safe.”
At South, the “SOUTH Rule” campaign was created. Every computer at the school had the rule — “Stay away from posting private information online. Obey the South rule EVERY time you use a computer. Understand the consequences of cyber-bullying. Tell someone if the South rule is being violated. Have respect for yourself and others online.”
Students at South also participated in the “Be a PEACEFUL Pirate” campaign to promote kindness.
During the meeting, Aderhold said that the acronyms for Internet safety began in South and spread to North, but that district officials have turned it into a district-wide initiative using the acronym “T.H.I.N.K.” which stands for: “The information shared online is forever. Have respect for yourself and others online. Inspire each other to share with care. Never forget the consequences of cyber-bullying. Keep your personal information private.”
Aderhold also said that the current administrative focus is on reviewing the student code of conduct, utilizing the Student Activities Contract, reviewing the District Crisis Plan, and reviewing the Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying Policy.
