School has ended for the year but the topic of bullying remains an issue across the country.
Students — or parents of students — who think their child is being bullied have various options in ECISD.
They can report it to a teacher, counselor or any administrator at the school and there are report forms available in the main office of the campuses or online.
“We … do encourage parents and students that immediately if they feel like their child is being bullied, or another child is being bullied to report it as soon as possible to make sure that the district administrators can do a thorough investigation and it’s timely,” Chief of Schools Keeley Simpson said.
When a form is filed, whether it is with a counselor, teacher or school administrator, the school administrators immediately start an investigation, Simpson said.
“They immediately determine is there a threat that needs to be addressed right then in terms of do students need to be separated in the learning environment? Then they start the process of interviewing the victim, interviewing the alleged bullies, any witnesses that come out in the investigation, and then they make the determination,” of whether bullying occurred, she said.
If bullying did occur, the parents of the victim, as well as the alleged bullies, would need to know whether it was or was not bullying.
“… If it did occur, then the appropriate disciplinary consequence would be applied,” Simpson said.
“If it’s not bullying, but there is a Student Code of Conduct violation, then maybe a different disciplinary consequence would be applied. Sometimes it’s some type of intervention or restorative practice that may happen for the victim and the bully, just separately,” Simpson said.
Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code defines bullying as “a single significant act, or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power and involves engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct that satisfies the applicability requirements … And that A, has the effect, or will have the effect, of physically harming a student, damaging a student’s property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or damage to the student’s property,” she said.
It could also be sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student, she said.
It also may materially and substantially disrupt the educational process, or the orderly operation of a classroom or school; or infringe on the rights of the victim at school. This also includes cyberbullying.
The investigation should be concluded within 10 days to make sure that if there is a significant act that needs to be addressed with disciplinary measures, or some type of intervention, like a stay away agreement or a schedule change, that it is handled within 10 days, Simpson said
There is no timeline in terms of reporting.
“… We just encourage students and parents to report immediately, but there is no timeline in terms of reporting. But once the administrator, or counselor, or teacher learns about it, the investigation should begin immediately and results should be communicated within 10 days,” Simpson added.
They could wait years to report it, but it makes the investigation very difficult because of what the children remember, or what they remember about incidents if they are named as witnesses.
Sometimes there is a pattern of bullying where an incident takes place in sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade.
There are no time constraints on a pattern of bullying, either.
“Really the most helpful thing for the school leaders is to make sure that they find out as soon as possible to when it’s happening, so that they do have access to the witnesses (and) access to the victim and the aggressors to make sure that they can get relevant information that’s timely,” Simpson said.
If someone retaliates, there would be a disciplinary consequence. The nature of that consequence depends on the retaliation and the severity of it, Simpson said.
“… But it is prohibited to retaliate against someone who’s reported bullying, whether it be the actual victim, or a witness who’s reported it,” she added.
Some parents might think the incident didn’t amount to anything, or they could think no one will believe it, or take it seriously so they won’t report it.
“Our school leaders take every reportable incident seriously. So when a parent or student comes forward and reports that either their child or another student is being bullied, the administrative staff takes that very seriously and they do investigate,” Simpson said.
If a fight is mutual, it would not be considered bullying.
“But if it is a physical attack, that would be some type of assault, then yes … it could be tied to bullying,” she said.
Social media does tend to draw out disputes because it is recorded and posted on different sites.
“… Depending on the purpose of that, depending on what it is being used for, the students that are recording and posting could also receive disciplinary consequences because it is disrupting the school environment and disrupting the classroom environment. Depending on what is being shared and, if it is infecting the educational environment, there could be disciplinary consequences with that as well,” Simpson said.
She added that it doesn’t matter if it’s after school if it impacts the school environment.
The education code also covers cyberbullying.
“… If it is infringing on the rights of the victim at school, and disrupts the educational process, or the orderly operation of the classroom or school, then it can be considered bullying at school,” Simpson said.
If a bullying allegation is confirmed, there could be an agreement where students are no longer allowed to be in the same classroom, or sit at the same table at lunch.
“… It’s sometimes a schedule change, but to ensure the safety of the victim,” Simpson said.
There are consequences for violating a stay away agreement, as well.
“Depending on what the violation is and the severity of the act that resulted in the stay away agreement, there could be more disciplinary consequences,” Simpson said.
Campuses also have several other methods they can use to resolve bullying. Simpson said those are mainly handled by the Guidance and Counseling Department.
“Sometimes it’s mediation; sometimes it’s counseling. But, yes absolutely, our Guidance and Counseling Department does provide the majority of those services. Again, it could be mediation; it could be some type of counseling (for) the bully, as well as the victim of the bully, obviously to change the behavior and the victim on how to respond to the behavior and then to help them heal and recover so that they can then contribute and feel welcome (and safe) back in the school environment,” she said.
It is easier to enforce stay away agreements in larger facilities because there are more course options if schedules need to be changed.
A lot of times, Simpson said students may report to a counselor or teacher because they’re not sure how to respond to the bullying or whether it is bullying.
It could be a misunderstanding, miscommunication, or a personality conflict.
“… That’s where the administrators and counselors come in to really determine is this bullying or is this a conflict that can be mediated,” Simpson said.
Texting, depending on the content, the intent of the text and whether it’s impacting the school environment, would fall under the electronic communication part of the cyberbullying code.
Simpson said the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees has asked for statistics on the prevalence of bullying, the number of incidents, actual confirmed cases, and how they respond.
“… We are currently working on that, because our board has asked for that and we have told them that we will get that to them soon after school is out, so we’ll know a little bit more about the numbers and if they’ve gone up,” Simpson said.
She added that it’s hard to say what the numbers will look like from this year to last year and the year before COVID hit.
The police step in if they believe it is criminal.
“One of the ways that parents and students can report is there’s a tip line, it’s on the ECISD website, as well as a forum that actually takes them to the Odessa Crimestoppers link where they can report bullying at school. That usually occurs when it is believed to be criminal. If it’s believed to be criminal, then the police immediately investigate. If … our ECISD police get that report and they believe it’s not criminal, then they immediately send it to the school administrators for them to investigate that way, as well,” she said.
Historically, Simpson said bullying happens more at the middle school level. It does happen at the kindergarten through 12 level.
