bully.booklet.draft.four

Free From

Bullying



Table of Contents

Our Mission.........................................................6
What is Student Bullying?....................................8
Conflict vs. Bullying.............................................9
Bullying vs. Harassment....................................11
What to Do if Your Child is Being Bullied.............13
What to Expect When Making a Report.............14
How to Help My Child.......................................15
Bullying Prevention at MMSD...........................18
Student Support...............................................27

Published by 3
Ron Brent, Publishing
Amy White MMSD, Editorials
Hallie Funk, Layout & Graphics

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Our Mission

The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD)
is committed to creating safe and supportive
learning environments to ensure every school is
thriving and every child graduates ready for college,
career and community.  
We will continue to embrace a culture of excellence
with equity - one where we insist on holding high
expectations for every child and adult no matter the
ciercumstance, while providing the unique support
they need to meet and exceed those high expectations.
Bullying can have harmful social, physical, psychological
and/or academic impact on students who are targeted,
those that engage in bullying behaviors, and bystanders
that observe acts of bullying.
We believe that long-term substantial change to our
school environments occurs when teachers, students,
families, school administrators, and school staff alike
are committed to improving their school community.

6

MMSD is committed to:
• Providing assistance with developing school-
based systems that create welcoming environ-
ments for all students and families.
• Offering professional development training for
educators and school-based staff.
• Engaging in disciplinary consultations with ad-
ministrators and staff who investigate acts of
bullying that occur on school grounds.
• Sharing educational materials on the MMSD
website to inform parents about MMSD’s an-
ti-bullying policies, procedures, and reporting
forms.
• Educating school staff on how to identify acts
of bullying and the appropriate interventions
necessary to address them.

7

What is Student Bullying?

Bullying is the intentional action by an individual or
group of individuals to inflict physical, emotional
or mental harm or suffering on another individual or
group of individuals when there is an imbalance of
real or perceived power. Bullying behavior creates an
objectively hostile or offensive environment. Such an
environment may cause, or be likely to cause, negative
and harmful conditions.

-Madison Metropolitan School District Board
Policies 4510 (Student Bullying)

Bullying is the intentional action to
inflict physical, emotional or mental harm
or suffering on another when there is an

imbalance of real or perceived power.
Student-to-student bullying manifests itself in various
forms, such as: intentional actions, hurtful name-
calling, physical attacks, etc., all of which occur in
our schools and our larger community. Furthermore,
bullying impacts not only the targeted student, but the
student who engaged in the behavior, bystanders and
the larger school community.

8

Conflict 0r Bullying?

What is conflict?

Conflict occurs when two or more students disagree.
As our students grow and form relationships,
conflicts may naturally arise. While a person’s feelings
may be hurt, conflict may not be bullying.
How bullying differs from conflict.

Bullying occurs when there is an imbalance of
power between two or more students and the
student who engages in the act of bullying intends to
hurt the other student (emotionally or physically).

9

Source: National Bullying Prevention Center, www.pacer.org

CONFLICT BULLYING

Both parties are in part One party is primarily
responsible for the responsible for the
problem. problem.

Examples: Examples:

• Students playing a • Some students make
board game a argue fun of another student
about who gets the because his clothes are
blue token. old and dirty.

• While playing soccer, • A student teases a
one student calls classmate because she
another student a has trouble reading.
cheater.

10

 

Bullying or Harassment?

Harassment is unwanted, deliberate or repeated
unsolicited comments (oral or written), gestures,
graphic material, physical contacts, verbal/nonverbal
or physical conduct directed to a student because
of the student’s membership in a protected class.
Harassment results when a hostile environment is
created by the offending behavior.
Here is a list of Protected Classes:

•Age •National Origin
•Ancestry •Parental Status
•Color •Pregnancy
•Creed •Race
•Disability •Religion
•Gender Expression •Retaliation
•Gender Identity •Sex
•Homelessness •Sexual Orientation
•Marital Status

Madison Metropolitan School District’s Non-Discrimination
policy, MMSD School Board Policy 4620

11

Bullying and harassment BOTH involve behavior that
• intimidates
• threatens
• offends or humiliates others

However, bullying is not necessarily linked
to a target’s protected class.

While actions that are considered bullying may also be
harassment, harassment and discrimination only occur
when the actions against a student are influenced,
at least in part, by the student’s membership, or
perceived membership, in a protected class.

12

What To Do if You Believe Your
Child is Being Bullied or Harassed?

Speak with someone from your child’s school.

• Contact a teacher, school staff member, or
school administrator.

• Contact the District’s Title IX Investigator,
608-663-1530

• Contact the Coordinator of Progressive
Discipline, 608-663-1908

13

What to Expect When
Making a Report

When incident of bullying is reported to
a MMSD staff member, the procedure to

address the matter is below.

1
2
3
4

The result of the investigation will be communicated
to parents/guardians in a timely manner. Whether the
incident under investigation is found to be bullying
or not, school-based staff will develop a support plan
for the students who were targeted by the behavior,
engaged in the behavior, and witnessed the behavior.

14

How to Help My Child

A child who is a target of bullying may display one or
more of the following behaviors at home:

• Appears sad or depressed, or shows unexpect-
ed mood shifts, irritability, disrupted sleep,
and sudden outbursts of temper.

• Seems socially isolated, with few — if any —
real friends; is rarely invited to parties or to the
homes of other kids.

• Appears afraid or reluctant to go to school in
the morning, complaining repeatedly of head-
aches or stomach pains.

• Loses interest in school work, and their grades
suffer.

• Chooses varied routes and times when going
to and from school.

How to help:
1. Talk with your child-- It is important to provide your
child with a safe supportive place to discuss their feel-
ings

• Ask open-ended questions like: “What hap-
pened? How did that make you feel?”

15

2.   Support and empower your child -- Assist your
child in developing an action plan to address this prob-
lem.

• Ask questions like, “What do you think you can
say next time? What do you think might work?
What would you like to see happen?”  

3. Be aware of and monitor your child’s use of tech-
nology -- Cyberbullying is a common form of bullying.
Monitoring your child’s use of social media keeps you
informed of the social interactions that may impact
your child’s well-being.
4. Understand your rights -- Check your MMSD’s An-
ti-Bullying policy which you can get from your child’s
school.

16

5. Reach out to your child’s school-- Working collab-
oratively with the staff at your child’s school is im-
portant.  Sometimes, staff may be unaware bullying is
occurring, therefore it is important to tell them.

• Say things like:  “My child is coming home and
talking about this.” And then say, “This is how
it’s impacting my child.”

• Ask to fill out a Bullying Reporting Form so
that your concern is clearly documented and
investigated.

• When addressing the school’s response, ask
things like:  “When can I expect to hear back
from you about what you’ve done? What are
the next steps?”

Source: National Bullying Prevention Center, www.pacer.org

17

Bullying Prevention at MMSD

The Madison Metropolitan School District MMSD
Strives to create welcoming learning environments
by setting high expectations for both students and staff,
encouraging relationships and community building
between students and staff and teaching students the
skills to resolve conflicts peacefully through restrative
engagement strategies and social emotional learning.
Setting the Foundation: Universal Strategies that
Support Positive School Climate & Culture

18

When in a positive school environment that
cultivates respect and caring, students can
concentrate on their studies. If students feel safe, they
are empowered to explore new ideas and concepts. If
respect and empathy are the norm, bullying behavior
is less likely to occur.
Source: (Straim, Bullying Prevention: Building a
Positive School Climate.)
MMSD is committed to implementing school-wide
programs and practices aimed at creating a positive
school climate.

• Prevention is the key!

19

Community Building Strategies

Restorative Approach

Arestorative approach focuses on developing a
strong community in which adults and students
feel a sense of belonging. A whole school approach
highlights the importance of a positive school climate,
which refers to how students routinely treat one
another on the bus, in class, and in the halls; as well as
how adults treat students.
The objective of restorative approach include repairing
harm by addressing the needs of targets, the needs of
the community, and the needs of those who have done
wrong.  
Specific approaches include a restorative circle and
community-building circle. A Restorative Circle is
a structured dialogue process involving all those
impacted by a conflict or wrong doing, with the aim
of acknowledging harm, righting wrongs, and moving
forward in positive ways.

20

We use Circles to build community and to
address conflicts, but we do not use Restor-
ative Circles in cases of bullying due to the
imbalance of power that exists in cases of

bullying and harassment.
Community-Building Circles help to create a climate
of respect and caring, and support practices needed
when harm has been done.  The values of restorative
practices—inclusion, respect, mutual responsibility
and accountability—are congruent with other MMSD
programs.

21



Welcoming Schools is a comprehensive ap-
proach to creating respectful and supportive
elementary schools to embrace family diversity, create
LGBTQ-inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying
and gender stereotyping, & support transgender and
gender-expansive students.

MMSD partners with Welcoming Schools to teach
students the skills to be allies to their fellow
students.  We know most bullying in school comes
from bias, prejudice, and stereotypes, whether it is
based on their protected class.

Source: www.welcomingschools.org/

23

Developmental Designs’ is a comprehensive
practice that integrates social, emotional and
academic learning. With designed to meet adolescent
needs by addressing these key elements of effective
teaching:

• Build social-emotional skills
• Motivate students to achieve academically
• Create inclusive learning communities
Source: www.originsonline.org/developmental-designs

Second Step is a program for elementary and middle
school which teaches critical skills—such as managing
emotions and behavior, getting along with peers, and
solving problems peacefully—that can help students
in school, the workplace and throughout their lives.

Source: www.secondstep.org
www.cfchildren.org

24





Student Supports

MMSD strives to support students in
demonstrating positive behaviors.  When a
student does not meet these expectations, supports
are provided to respond to student needs.  Student
services staff are available in all MMSD school
buildings to work with students struggling to meet
expectations.

27

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