Article

More Jersey districts are adopting policies

Monday, March 19, 2007 • BY PAULA SAHA AND LAURA JOHNSTON • Star-Ledger Staff

A group of Parsippany students post secretly-taken photographs of classmates on their MySpace pages, complete with snarky comments and vulgarities.

Six middle-schoolers in Warren Township create a Web site where they post threats and profanity-laced insults about their fellow eighth-graders.

A basketball player in Madison learns about a page on Facebook.com started by his classmates and dedicated to ridiculing him.

A tech-savvy generation has added far-reaching dimensions to the old issue of schoolyard bullying, and now a growing number of school districts are adopting policies to address student conduct in the electronic world.

So-called "cyber-bullying" policies lay out consequences -- which can include suspension and expulsion -- but also focus the public's attention on a growing problem, educators say.

"Our intent was to protect the students but also to inform students," said Superintendent Ernest Palestis of the Morris Hills Regional School District in Morris County, which passed its policy in January. "I think sometimes students don't understand that what appears to be anonymous and in front of their computer screen really is public."

Cyberbullying usually is related to the give and take of social power, and can include sending cruel or threatening messages, revealing someone else's sensitive personal information, creating hate Web sites and impersonating others online, said Nancy Willard, author of an upcoming book on cyberbullying and executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet.

The practice "is increasing dramatically," said Stuart Green, director of the New Jersey Coalition for Bullying Awareness and Prevention.

The Madison School District passed its policy after several painful incidents over the past few months, including the Facebook page ridiculing a basketball player.

"We hope that (the policy) will put everyone on notice that this is just not acceptable," said Lisa Ellis, Madison school board president.

Such policies do have limitations, legal experts say. For a school district to take action, there must be a connection between the offensive behavior and the school environment.

That's easy to spot if a student is caught bullying on school time, or using school equipment. But things get dicier if an Internet posting, for example, is made from a home computer and after school hours.

"School districts have to be very careful as to where their line of authority starts and finishes," said Philip Nicastro, an attorney and principal of Strauss Esmay Associates, a company that consults on policy-writing with nearly 300 school districts across the Garden State. "There's a balancing test between a pupil's First Amendment right and the issue of bullying, particularly dealing with out-of-school conduct."

State statutes allow school districts to impose consequences on students for conduct away from school if there is a fear for the student's well-being or if the conduct "materially and substantially" interferes with school operations.

But it can be difficult to interpret that standard, and there is still not a lot of case law to help, Nicastro and others said.

"We don't want to become law enforcement agencies," said Tami Crader, assistant superintendent at Readington Township, a K-8 district in Hunterdon County, which adopted a policy last month.

The policies being considered by many districts have a provision that if an investigation shows the conduct took place after-hours, a school official may report the matter to local police, though law enforcement's standard would be different from what a school district would consider. They also outline a range of consequences, "from positive behavioral interventions up to and including suspension or expulsion."

Willard said that just because a district may not be able to take formal action against a student doesn't mean it should ignore the behavior. "The most effective informal approach is to simply download the material and provide this to the parents of the cyberbully and say, 'Look what you're child is doing.'"

School districts don't necessarily need specific cyber-bullying policies, she said, because "bullying is bullying," and the behavior is usually covered by existing rules. "What they need is a comprehensive plan (that includes) educating students and parents."

This is important because Willard said cyberbullying may have the potential to be even more harmful than the old perception of the big kid in school who uses brawn to get his or her way.

That was the case for 21-year-old Samantha Hahn of Metuchen. In the sixth grade, an angry friend spread a false rumor that she was a lesbian, first through word of mouth, then on e-mail.

"When kids had enough of verbal abuse and pushing me around, they hid behind a computer because it was easy to do," said Hahn, now the state advocate for the New Jersey Cares About Bullying campaign. They e-mailed her and sent her instant messages, warning her not to go to the bathroom alone and telling her she was being followed.

"I was constantly nervous and constantly scared," she said. "My grades suffered because I never paid attention in school. I was always terrified."

She still doesn't like to talk on the phone or over e-mail because she's afraid someone might be listening in. "People don't understand how powerful the computer really is."

Schools take aim at online bullying

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