It seems like it is defined differently than from years ago, back when “I was a kid”?
Indeed,
when today’s parents were in school, visions of one child hitting another child
on a playground and taking his or her lunch money was what was known as
bullying. However, in 2011, the NJ State
Legislature defined what harassment, intimidation, or bullying (HIB) is by
law. In order for an event to be considered
an incident or harassment, intimidation, or bullying, there are specific
criteria and ALL criteria must be met for it be affirmed as a HIB event. Those criteria are:
- An
event can be any gesture, written, verbal, or physical act, or electronic communication,
whether it is a single incident or a series of incidents.
- The
event must be seen by a reasonable as being motivated either by any
actual or perceived characteristic such as race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or
a mental physical or sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing
characteristic.
- The
event takes place on school property, at any school sponsored function, on a
school bus, or off school grounds that substantially disrupts or interferes
with the orderly operations of the school.
- One
of the following criteria must be met:
- The
event has the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging
the student's property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or
emotional harm to his person or damage to his property; OR
- The
event has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or group of students;
OR
- Creates
a hostile educational environment for the student by interfering with a student’s
education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to
the student