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NO BULLY SYSTEM
AISG is committed to being a safe and bully-free school and will make every possible effort to provide a learning environment where students are safe, supported, and free from harm. AISG recognizes the significant long-term impacts bullying can have on the well-being of both bullies and victims. Therefore, we incorporate all members of our community, including students, parents, faculty, staff, and administration to proactively prevent bullying and support one another when bullying does occur. Anti-bullying training is currently in place for employees and students, specifically:
AISG employees are trained in recognizing, responding to and reporting bullying, and use the school’s policies and procedures when working with students involved in bullying. Additionally, AISG works carefully to educate students on what bullying is, and how to recognize, respond to and report bullying that may take place.
Students receive age-appropriate anti-bullying curriculum to develop social-emotional skills of children, including empathy, social problem solving, assertiveness, friendship skills, emotion awareness and regulation, and bystander/upstander behaviors.
What is bullying?
Bullying occurs when a student, or group of students, repeatedly try to hurt, humiliate, or get power over another student in any of the following ways.
Physical bullying is when a student uses physical force to hurt another student (e.g. by hitting, pushing, shoving, kicking, taking a student’s belongings or stealing their money).
Verbal bullying is when a student uses words, images or gestures to intimidate or humiliate another student (e.g. by taunting, name-calling, teasing, put-downs, insults, threats and blackmail).
Relational bullying is when a student excludes or isolates another student (e.g. through leaving them out, manipulating others against them, or spreading gossip or rumors).
Cyberbullying is when a student uses their phones, text messages, e-mails, instant messaging, the Internet and social media and other electronic or digital forms to bully another student in any of the ways described above.
Bullying is different from conflict. Conflict is an inevitable part of life and can occur when a student perceives another student as being an obstacle to what they want or value. If students are in conflict but are not engaging in bullying, our school is committed to helping the students solve their issues or disagreements.
Bullying may at times amount to harassment. It is harassment to target a student online or face-to-face because of their actual or perceived disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, immigrant status, race or ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, or because they are associated with a student or group of students with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
It is sexual harassment to target a student with unwanted sexual comments, gestures, attention, stalking, and physical contact that cause a student to feel uncomfortable or unsafe at school or interferes with a student’s schoolwork.
Our school does not tolerate bullying or harassment for any reason. It is also a serious breach of school rules if a student takes revenge or asks someone to threaten or hurt a student that has reported bullying or harassment.
Together we have the power to make AISG school bully-free
AISG is committed to a bully-free environment and has teamed with The Power of Zero to implement the No Bully System. The No Bully System guides school leaders and teachers how to create a bully-free school and how to respond effectively to the incidents that still occur.
No Bully System…
- Requires bullying students to take responsibility for ending their behavior
- Recognizes and addresses systemic nature of bullying
- Engages larger peer groups and systems for change
- Leverages cooperation, relationship, compassion, and empathy
- Aligns with different restorative justice programs
Staff, Teacher, and Parent Response to Bullying
AISG does not tolerate bullying at any level. Every instance of suspected or confirmed bullying will be thoroughly investigated and confirmed cases responded to with consequences up to and including expulsion. The developmental maturity levels of the parties, the levels of harm, the reasons surrounding the incident, the nature of the bullying, the context in which the alleged incidents occurred, and the history of the parties involved will be considered when posing consequences. Additionally, AISG supports both students and their families in differentiating between bullying and conflict and aiding in the healing and learning process.
The AISG Community agrees to join together to treat others with respect, both online and face-to-face so that we keep our campus bully-free.
AISG takes a solution and safety-focused approach when addressing bullying. We have faculty members who are trained as Solution Coaches® to bring together a Solution Team ® of students to help end bullying situations. Research has shown that Solution Teams successfully end bullying situations in the vast majority of cases after three meetings. Our school follows the No Bully System to prevent and respond to bullying and harassment.
No Bully System
Level 1
Prevent & Interrupt
All faculty, staff, students, administrators, and volunteers support a campus-wide system for preventing and responding to harassment and bullying.
If any faculty or staff member witness’s student aggression or disrespect, they will take immediate steps to intervene and redirect students.
If a caregiver knows or suspects that their child is being harassed or bullied, they should encourage their child to ask the bullying student (or students) to stop or to seek help from any trusted adult on campus. If this does not solve the situation, please notify the Assistant Principal in our Elementary School or the Dean of Students in our Secondary School. The school can only help you if you reach out and tell us what is happening.
Level 2
Check in with target of bullying and notify the Assistant Principal in our Elementary School or the Dean of Students in our Secondary School.
All members of school faculty and staff are encouraged to watch out for students who appear to be isolated from other students, who are put down by other students behind their back, or who show signs of being bullied.
If any faculty or staff member knows or suspects that a student is the target of bullying or harassment, they shall check in with the student as soon as reasonably possible. If this appears to be bullying, they shall inform the Assistant Principal in our Elementary School or the Dean of Students in our Secondary School via email as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours.
Level 3
Solution Team, progressive discipline, and other responses.
Our school uses a variety of methods to resolve incidents of bullying and harassment:
If our school receives a report of suspected bullying, we will conduct a careful examination to determine if this is in fact bullying or if this is student conflict or another type of behavior.
If this is determined to be bullying, we may refer the target of bullying to get help from a school Solution Coach. Solution Coaches are faculty and staff members who have been trained to bring together Solution Teams of students, including bullies, bystanders, and positive student leaders, and without using consequences to bring the bullying to an end. The Solution Coach records progress using a Solution Team Log and shall report progress to the Principal.
We may use progressive discipline to redirect bullying students depending upon the severity of the bullying. The Assistant Principal in our Elementary School or the Dean of Students in our Secondary School may meet with the bullying student and involve their parents or guardians when determining consequences to change behavior. In addition, the Assistant Principal in our Elementary School or the Dean of Students in our Secondary School may inform the student that discipline consequences will occur if the bullying continues up to and including expulsion. The developmental maturity levels of the parties, the levels of harm, the reasons surrounding the incident, the nature of the bullying, the context in which the alleged incidents occurred, and the history of the parties involved will be considered when posing consequences. Additionally, AISG supports both students and their families in differentiating between bullying and conflict and aiding in the healing and learning process.
Level 4
Teach empathy to remedy negative classroom culture.
If a pattern of harassment or prejudice is apparent across an entire class or grade, or any other group in the school, the Solution Coach may bring together relevant students and school personnel to implement a plan to teach respect for differences and create a supportive peer culture.
No Bully by Power of Zero. (2022, April 5). Retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://nobully.org