SPASD Sample 02

SPASD

SAFE SCHOOLS BOOKLET

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Table of Contents

Our Mission.....................................................3
What is Student Bullying?.............................. 4
Conflict vs. Bullying........................................ 5
Bullying vs. Harassment................................. 7

What to Do If Your Child

is Being Bullied or Harassed?......................... 9

What to Expect From My

School When I Report an Incident............... 10
How to Help Your Child................................ 11
Keep the Lines of Communication Open ..... 13



Our Mission

Inspire and prepare every child, every day, by
providing relevant, engaging and innovative learning
experiences in and out of the classroom.
The Sun Prairie Area School District is committed
to providing students with a safe, and healthy school
environment that allows all students to maximize
their learning potential. 
Education, intervention, awareness, and prevention
exist for students and staff to provide a learning
environment that is free of bullying or intimidation.
ALL CHILDREN WILL BE SAFE AND LOVED IN
OUR SCHOOLS.... EVERY CHILD, EVERY DAY

What is Student Bullying?

Bullying” is defined as systematically or persistently
inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress
on one or more students. It is intentional written,
spoken, nonverbal, or physical behavior, including
but not limited to any threatening, insulting, or
dehumanizing gesture or communication that has
the effect of doing any of the following:

◊ Substantially interfering with any student’s
education.

◊ Creating a threatening or fearful environment
in a school setting for any student or group of
students.

◊ Substantially disrupting the orderly operation
of the school.

◊ Successful enforcement of anti-bullying
policy and bullying prevention requires a
collaborative effort among the school, students,
and parents.

Conflict vs. Bullying

What is conflict?
Conflict occurs when two or more people who are
equal in their relationship disagree. As our students
grow and form relationships with each other, conflict
may arise and at times, may be hurtful. Despite the
fact that conflict may hurt someone emotionally or
physically, conflict is NOT bullying.
What is bullying?
An act is considered bullying when there is an
imbalance of power between two or more people
who are at odds with each other, and the person who
engages in the act of bullying intends to hurt the other
person (emotionally or physically). The emotional
and/or physical harm is done on purpose to make
the targeted person feel bad and in some cases,
powerless. Also, there is something unequal about
the relationship between the person who engaged in
the act of bullying and the person who was targeted
(e.g. when a student uses their social influence and/
or popularity to turn others against the targeted
student).

PACER’s 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.
A disagreement or An imbalance of power
difference of opinion (real or perceived) exists
between equals between parties.



Bullying vs. Harassment

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

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

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 arise
when that person’s protected class influences the
actions against a person.

What to do if your child is
being bullied or harassed?

◊ Contact any Teacher, Student Services staff, or
School Administration with your concerns

◊ Fill out a Bullying/Cyber-Bullying/Hazing
Report Form to School-Based Staff (Submit
form to Teacher, Student Services Staff or
Principal)

◊ Request a Bullying Report Form from your
school.  They can be found with every principal,
student services staff member and teacher.

◊ Contact school personnel who can provide
and/or assist with completion of the Bullying
Report Form.  Best people to contact are your
school principals or your school counselor.

What to expect from my
school when I report an
incident:

When incident of bullying is reported to a SPASD
staff member, the procedure to address the matter is
below:

How to help my child:

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

◊ Ask open-ended questions like: “What
happened? How did that make you feel?”

2.  Support and empower your child-- Assist your
child in developing an action plan to address this
problem. Help your child understand that they have
the ability to generate ideas and develop potential
solutions around this problem

◊ 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 technology--Cyber-Bullying is harmful and
oftentimes, is not addressed. 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- Familiarize yourself with
the Districts Policy & Procedure on Bullying

5. Reach out to your child’s school-- Working collabo-
ratively with the staff at your child’s school is import-
ant in expressing your concerns and advocating for
your child.  Sometimes, staff may be unaware bullying
is occurring; therefore it is important to engage your
child’s school.

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

6. Ask to fill out a Bullying/Cyber-Bullying/Hazing
Report Form to School-Based Staff so that your con-
cern 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’s the next step?”

Be aware of signs and symptoms of bullying:
◊ A child who is a victim of bullying may display
one or more of the following behaviors at home:
◊ Appears sad or depressed, or shows unexpected
mood shifts, irritability, disrupted sleep, and sud-
den 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 headaches or
stomach pains.
◊ Loses interest in school work, and their grades
suffer.
◊ Chooses an “illogical” route for going to and from
school.

Keep the Lines of
Communication Open:

Research tells us that children really do look to
parents and caregivers for advice and help on tough
decisions. Sometimes spending 15 minutes a day
talking can reassure kids that they can talk to their
parents if they have a problem. Start conversations
about daily life and feelings with questions like these:

◊ What was one good thing that happened today?
Any bad things?

◊ What is lunch time like at your school? Who do
you sit with? What do you talk about?

◊ What is it like to ride the school bus?
◊ What are you good at? What would do you like

best about yourself?
(Stopbullying.gov)



so many friends such support
so happy wow so nice

very loyal not mean
not judging much love
independent doge
wow such acceptance amaze strength

Be yourself. Love yourself.
Doge gives no power to bullies!

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