Bullying

Schools have long had to deal with bullying among students, including hitting, teasing, name-calling, intimidation, harassment and social exclusion. But in recent years, technology has given teenagers, and even younger students, a new and more anonymous venue for bullying their peers. Students are frequent users of the internet and other technologies - sending email, creating web sites, posting personal news in blogs, sending text messages and images via cell phones, contacting each other through instant messages, posting on social networking sites and posting to discussion boards. Unfortunately, some students are using these technologies to bully their peers and sometimes to harass school staff. The challenge for schools is not only in identifying and stopping such conduct so that students and staff feel safe at school, but determining the limits of their authority when so-called “cyberbullying” is initiated outside of school and during non-school hours. Cyberbullying, sometimes referred to as Internet bullying or electronic bullying, has been defined as “the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text”. Bishop Fenwick High School takes its responsibility to provide a safe, healthy environment for its students and staff very seriously. The Administration will hold students accountable for decisions, actions or statements, on or off campus, that violate the mission, vision, value and policies of Bishop Fenwick. This extends to the use of any electronic resource used by students that includes a reference to Bishop Fenwick High School and/ or its faculty, staff, students or community.

Electronic resources include all social media. The administration reserves the right to hold students accountable for any material posted on their sites that is contrary to the mission of Bishop Fenwick. Threats of violence (physical, verbal, or emotional), made in person, electronically or through other means, will not be tolerated in the Bishop Fenwick High School community. Students found to have made such threats will face serious consequences at the discretion of the Principal and these consequences could include suspension and expulsion.