BULLYING AND
HARASSMENT:
WHAT EVERY SCHOOL
EMPLOYEE SHOULD KNOW
Adapted from North Carolina School
Boards Association
2010 Spring School Law Academy
North Carolina’s Bullying Law--Practical
Applications for Schools
Thursday, May 13, 2010
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS AFFECTED BY
VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS 2007
 Assaults
 Serious
1.2%
Violent Crime
.4%
 Theft
3%
Bullying
32.2%


80% occurred in the school building
Highest percentage is within 6th graders
FORMS OF BULLYING
 Direct/Physical
 Indirect/Emotional
 Mostly used by girls
 Cyber bullying
 Twice as many girls engage in cyber bullying

Lasting effect—School phobia—avoid certain
places
NC LAW DEFINED
 “Bullying
or harassing behavior” is any
pattern of gestures or written, electronic ,
or verbal communications, OR any
physical act OR any threatening
communication that takes place on school
property, at any school-sponsored
function, or on a school bus, AND that:
 Places
a student or school employee in
actual and reasonable fear of harm to his
or her person OR damage to his or her
property; OR
 Creates or is certain to create a hostile
environment by substantially interfering
with or impairing a student’s educational
performance, opportunities, or benefits.
WHAT DOES A BULLY LOOK-LIKE?
Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold
Two of the most vicious bullies in history or were
they victims?

Bullying or harassing behavior includes, but is
not limited to, acts reasonably perceived as being
motivated by any actual or perceived
differentiating characteristics such as
 Race
 Color
 Religion
 Ancestry
 National origin
 Gender
 Socioeconomic status






Academic status
Gender identity
Physical appearance
Sexual orientation
Mental, physical, developmental, or sensory
disability, or
An association with a person who has or is
perceived to have one or more of these
characteristics
REASONS FOR VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL…

Verbal Harassment (All starts here)


Verbal + Emotional/Psychological = Physical
Physical – Boys forget by lunch
Girls do not forget

Girl Fights: #1 Reason… “Just Kidding”

Boy Fights: #1 Reason … “We were just Playing”

Bullying is not normal & a learned behavior!!!
MEGAN MEIER

A teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri who
committed suicide by hanging three weeks before
her 14th birthday. An investigation proved the
matter and her suicide was attributed to cyberbullying by the social networking website
through MySpace.
ERIC MOHAT

Eric Mohat committed suicide after being
tormented by bullies at his Mentor, Ohio, High
School.
JEREMIAH LASATER

Tall, awkward and dealing with a learning
disability, 14-year-old Jeremiah Lasater was a
target of frequent taunts by schoolyard bullies at
Vasquez High School in Acton. Even the
classroom wasn't always safe for the 6-foot-5
teen, who in middle school was poked and teased
by some of his fellow special needs students.
CARL JOSEPH WALKER-HOOVER

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11-- hardly old
enough to know his sexuality and yet distraught
enough to hang himself one day after school
bullies repeatedly called him "gay”.
HOLLY GROGAN
Holly, a 15-year-old public schoolgirl, jumped 30ft
to her death from a road bridge. Her suicide was
blamed on the “huge pressure” and “modern
complexities” of social networking websites. She
fell on to a busy dual carriageway and was hit by
passing traffic.
 She had endured a torrent of abuse posted on her
Facebook page. Friends said that she had been a
victim of cyber-bullying.

HUNTER LAYLAND

15-year-old Hunter took his own life because he was
repeatedly bullied and teased. He had a hearing problem
and facial scars because of an accident when he was a
toddler. Several classmates made fun of him. They made
fun of the way he looked and someone once told him “if I
had a face like yours I’d shoot myself.”
JAHEEM HERRERA

This 11-year-old Georgia boy was found hanged
to death in his bedroom closet. His family said
that school bullies drove the child to suicide. The
family reportedly complained to school officials
that he was being repeatedly teased and
threatened by classmates.
MICHAEL BREWER

Michael Brewer survived severe burns over 60
percent of his body when classmates doused him
with alcohol and set him on fire over a video
game.
HOPE WITSELL

In recent months, two high school girls were
relentlessly harassed as "sluts" by their peers in
school and committed suicide as a result --
Phoebe Prince

Nine teens charged in the bullying in teen’s
suicide: Nine teens, including three juveniles,
have been charged in connection with the death
of a 15-year-old Massachusetts girls who
committed suicide after weeks of bullying on
Facebook and at her high school.
WHAT NOW?
 Administrators
and School Counselors are good
candidates to educate parents and students on
bullying/harassment.

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Students learn behavior from home—behavior is
reinforced
Can suspend for off campus conduct (cyber
bullying)
Students have a RIGHT to a bullying –free
environment
Students need to know that they should report If:
They see bullying or
 If they are being bullied
