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or abuse to request accommodations via the creation of Student Safety Plans and/or School-Based Stay Away
Agreements in order to create greater separation between themselves and their dating partner.

Each secondary school is required to advertise this prohibition against dating violence and abuse in any form, including
physical, emotional, or sexual, by posting the contact name and number of an on-site person who would handle any
complaints, and post the policy in public places on campus, in the school's student handbook, and in District publications
such as this one. School Board Policies can be found on the District’s Policy web page at: School Board Policies.

Unacceptable Behavior – Bullying is defined by inflicting physical or psychological distress on one or more students and
may involve teasing or social exclusion. Repetitive Bullying means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or
psychological distress in person-to-person encounters and/or by means of electronic communication or technological
devices on one or more students or school 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; and may involve, but is
not limited to, teasing, social exclusion, threat, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, sexual, religious, or
racial/ethnic harassment, public humiliation, damaging or destruction of property, placing a student in reasonable fear of
harm to his or her person or property, and cyber-bullying, and cyber-stalking as defined in P-5.002.

Action steps your child should take if he or she is being bullied (advise him/her):

▪ Empower your child by listening to and validating his/her feelings, by acknowledging that the harm he/she
experienced is not right, and that he/she needs to get help in order to stop the mistreatment.
▪ Please do not encourage your child to fight or retaliate. Counter-aggression rarely works and often escalates
the problem.
▪ Encourage self-reporting – Discuss the distinct difference between “tattling” (snitching, ratting, giving up,
“narcing”) and “telling/reporting” with your child. Explain that “tattling” is when a person intentionally tries to
get another student in trouble for something minor. “Telling” is completely different because it means informing
an adult of the harmful, immoral, unethical, dangerous, destructive, hateful, or threatening behavior that has hurt
the individual or someone else. If telling adults seems hard for your child, encourage him/her to ask a friend to
accompany them to a faculty member to report the issue.
▪ Help your child strengthen his/her assertiveness skills.
▪ If your child is able to write, encourage him/her to complete a Student Mistreatment Report located in the front
office and/or complete a Bullying/Harassment Anonymous Drop-Box Report and file it in the drop boxes placed
at various locations on the campus or complete the online Bullying and Harassment Report. Reporting is not
tattling when the intention is to alert the teacher and/or administration of any harmful acts of mistreatment
toward your child or others.
▪ Call Safe Schools’ centralized Bullying Anonymous Hotline Telephone to report concerns of bullying
561-434-8200.
▪ Whenever possible, encourage your child to walk with friends.
▪ If your child is being bullied online or by text messaging, encourage him/her not to retaliate and/or reply, but
rather to report the activity to school personnel.
▪ Encourage your child to join clubs or take part in activities where he/she can meet and/or make new friends.

FY24 Student and Family Handbook 11 | Page