Anti-Bullying Policy:

“Character education is not extra. Instead, it must be integrated into the fabric of our schools so that it becomes a habit that drives decisions, outcomes, and the overall culture.” (news article March 2015 - Shaping Students of Character: Activities and Adult Role Models Are Essential Elements in the Education Equation)

ICan will use the research based Character Counts! educational pedagogy to teach our students social and character development skills. The purpose of this program is to emphasize the character traits of Respect, Responsibility, Trustworthiness, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. All students will explore these six pillars throughout the school year as they discuss and react to the daily events of their lives. They will be challenged to make decisions based upon the qualities of character as evidenced in the six pillars. Year-long exploration of these pillars will take place as the components of the program are integrated into the daily curriculum of our Academy. 

“Bullying” means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees. It is further defined as unwanted and repeated written, verbal, or physical behavior, including any threatening, insulting, or dehumanizing gesture, by an adult or student, that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
educational environment; cause discomfort or humiliation; or unreasonably interfere with the individual’s school performance or participation.

Examples or types of bullying include, but are not limited to:
 

• Physical: punching, shoving, poking, strangling, hair-pulling, beating, biting or excessive tickling;

• Verbal: hurtful name-calling, teasing or gossip; 

• Emotional (psychological): rejecting, terrorizing, extorting, defaming, humiliating, blackmailing, rating/ranking of personal characteristics such as race, disability, ethnicity, or perceived sexual orientation, manipulating friendships, isolating, ostracizing or peer pressure;
   

• Sexual: many of the actions listed above as well as exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual propositioning, sexual harassment and abuse involving actual physical contact and sexual assault. In many cases, gender and cross-gender sexual harassment may also qualify as bullying; 

• Cyber-bullying: the use of information and communication technologies such as email, social media sites, cell phone, and text messages, instant messaging (IM), defamatory personal web sites, and defamatory online personal pooling web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to threaten or harm others, or which substantially disrupts or interferes with the operation of a school or an individual student’s ability to receive an education.