Dedham School Committee Postpones Vote on Bullying Policy Until December

Editor's note: This story is part of a looking in-depth at several areas of concern in local schools. A draft of the district's bullying policy is attached to this article in PDF form.

The Dedham School Committee had planned on voting on a bullying policy, but decided to wait until it's next meeting on Dec. 1. According to state legislature, the School Committee has until Dec. 31 to submit a policy.

Committee member David Roberts explained to the board that after meeting with the policy's subcommittee earlier this month, they thought it would be more appropriate to give the committee and the public time to review the policy.

"As long as we can vote on this and have it in by the end of the year, we will be in compliance," said Roberts.

Roberts noted that the legislature calls for every school in the state to submit a policy, but many are not nearly as far along as Dedham.

Chairman Thomas Ryan agreed that it would be a good opportunity for everyone to look over the policy before it is voted and finalized. He also said that he did not want a unique policy for Dedham because the bullying is everywhere and Dedham's bullying is not unique.

"This is a very serious issue with very serious ramifications for everybody involved," said Ryan.

Instead he said that they should adopt policies and base their policy off of other surrounding communities. One neighboring community working on a policy is .

Roberts said that the counsel who they have been working with has been involved in making other bullying policies as well.

The legislation was signed in May after there were several suicides connected with bullying over the past couple of years. However, it is a problem that has existed for a long time, and officials plan to try to stop it.

According to the state legislation, bullying is defined as "the repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal, or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at a target that:

• causes physical or emotional harm to the target or damage to the target's property;

• places the target in reasonable fear of harm to him/herself, or of damage to his/her property;

• creates a hostile environment at school for the target;

• infringes on the rights of the target at school; or

• materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school."

The legislation also includes cyber-bullying, which is defined as "bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which shall include, but shall not be limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a:

• wire
• radio
• electromagnetic
• photo-electronic or photo-optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages or facsimile communications."

The most common forms of cyberbullying are through e-mails, text messages and social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Cyberbullying can also pertain to the creation of a webpage about someone, or posing to be the maker of a webpage. It was also noted at the committee meeting that both traditional bullying and cyberbullying can occur outside of school, so it is important for parents, police and students to be cooperative in and out of school hours.

According to Superintendent June Doe, this current policy was drafted after a meeting on Oct. 25, where a subcommittee had a discussion that led to revisions. Ryan expressed confidence in the policy.

"The Policy that exists right now looks to be very strong," Ryan said. "It is very comprehensive."