NJ District Claims Anti-Bullying Law is Too Expensive

The Ridgewood, New Jersey school district has called the state mandate requiring schools to follow strict new bullying procedures “a drain on resources”.

Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) members have voted to pass a resolution criticizing and contesting the district’s adherence to the new Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) Law, writes Anna Spiewak at the Ridgewood News:

As an unfunded mandate, officials have described the law as a “significant drain on the human and financial resources of the district.”

“We were investigating alleged bullying, intimidation, harassment situations before this. But now there’s a law involved and it has become a very paper-bureaucratic process. It is costing the district time and money,” said Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein.

“This resolution means in general that laws and mandates on schools should not be passed without funding.”

The district is following the Allamuchy Board of Education, who filed a complaint with The State of New Jersey Council of Local Mandates at the end of the summer, echoing the Ridgewood complaints about the extra costs.

“They’re requiring us to do this, but not supplying the funds to do it the right way,” says Timothy Frederiks, superintendent of schools at Allamuchy Township.

Alongside the financial requirements of providing HIB training to teachers and hiring an HIB coordinator in every school building, school districts must also report and file every incident that occurs at a school, even if it is later found to not be bully related.

“We don’t have definitive answers from the state on what’s the difference between normal student conflict, which happens every day, and bullying, which now has become a buzzword,” Frederiks added, “and then the incident gets escalated up to a whole different level, and it may not truly be bullying.”

Following the highly publicized suicide of Ridgewood High School graduate Tyler Clementi last year, Governor Christie signed into effect the New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act. The HIB brought with it extensive changes to the way that bullying is handled and reported.

All incidents of alleged bullying are filed and reported into the school record, and an investigation must be immediately launched. The act also alters previously existing policies, expands the definition of “harassment, intimidation and bullying” to include single incidents, not just patterns of behavior, and broadens the definition of what signifies a bullying incident.

“We will continue to discuss the experience of districts in implementing this new law and will consider approaching the legislature collaboratively with our districts to discuss potential modifications to the law in the future.”

The resolution by the Ridgewood school district and the complaint from Allemuchy Board of Education, is under review by the State of New Jersey Council on Local Mandates.

If the mandate commission approves the complaints, the law may then be struck down.

Comments

Vic

December 22, 2011 at 11:53 am

I take this with a grain of salt. Ridgewood also tried using scare tactics by telling parents that a report of bullying against a middle school student would keep them from getting into college. They just keep bending facts because they are not happy with the law and/or are too lazy to investigate bullying in their schools.

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Kevin

December 22, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Maybe to minimize the expense, schools in Ridgewood should make some bullying prevention efforts? Less bullying means less paperwork, right?

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Joe

December 22, 2011 at 1:52 pm

Unfunded mandate is right. Bullying is something that’s been part of the school experience as long as there have been schools, most likely. Are the schools not burdened enough with making limited funding stretch in aid of actually educating students that they have to dedicate time and resources to pleasing the PC police?

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Bob

April 17, 2012 at 5:51 pm

Community-Wide Anti-Bullying Efforts

To stop bullying, everyone who is a part of a school community needs to be both aware and willing to step up:

Parents can reinforce anti-bullying messages and expect appropriate behavior both at school and at home. Studies show that students whose parents have exceptionally harsh or exceptionally lax discipline are more likely to bully others, so maintaining a healthy, balanced discipline environment in the home actually extends to the environment of the school as well.

Teachers and administrators can lay out clear expectations by presenting anti-bullying units and programming (such as those we work to reinforce with our anti-bullying folder programs). They can also create an environment where students are encouraged to come forward about bullying without fear of being shamed by their peers.

All school staff, from crossing guards to lunchroom servers should be informed of the school’s anti-bullying policies and be willing to hold students accountable. Turning a blind eye for risk of offending parents or getting involved in a complicated situation only hurts the students, and anti-bullying policies are most effective when they’re consistently enforced.

Students should be empowered to not only refrain from bullying, but stand up for others who are in need of help. This means reporting bullying when they see it as well as making an effort to make everyone feel included.

Anti-bullying efforts must be a true community initiative, a community-wide effort. We supply anti-bullying folders to help reinforce the lessons that teachers present and to remind students daily that bullying isn’t good for anyone, and that it’s worth it to come forward and voice what’s going on. http://www.myschoolfolders.com

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