Bullying, Discrimination, Harassment
The Eureka Union School District is committed to providing a warm, welcoming and respectful setting that allows all students to maximize their learning. The Governing Board recognizes the harmful effects of bullying, discrimination, or harassment on student well-being, student learning, and school attendance and desires to provide a safe school environment that protects students from physical and emotional harm.
No individual or group of students shall, through physical, written, verbal, visual, or other means, harass, sexually harass, threaten, intimidate, cyberbully, cause bodily injury to, or commit hate violence against any other student or school personnel, or retaliate against them for filing a complaint or participating in the compliant resolution process. (Board Policy 5131.2, Bullying; Board Policy 5145.3, Nondiscrimination/Harassment)
If an instance of bullying or harassment occurs, or if you wish to report something that is abusive in nature or a potential threat, Eureka offers anonymous reporting through Catapult . Catapult is an online reporting tool designed to deter and mitigate bullying and cyber abuse, which includes a back-end incident management system for school administrators. Catapult empowers students with an option to safely and anonymously report anything of concern to school officials – from cyberbullying to threats of violence or self-harm. Catapult empowers students to stand up for themselves and others while giving our schools the insight we need to keep students safe.
The Eureka Union School District has developed strategies for bullying prevention and intervention to help keep students safe and ensure a healthy learning environment.
Community Resources
What Should You Do if Your Child Is a Bully?
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center
Bullying at School (PDF)
This California Department of Education publication addresses bullying behavior and hate-motivated behavior including definitions, effects, and prevention strategies.
Definition of Bullying (Eureka USD Board Policy 5131.2)
Bullying is an unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power between individuals with the intent to cause emotional or physical harm. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or social/relational and involves repetition or potential repetition of a deliberate act.
Cyberbullying includes the electronic creation or transmission of harassing communications, direct threats, or other harmful texts, sounds, or images. Cyberbullying also includes breaking into another person's electronic account or assuming that person's online identity in order to damage that person's reputation.
Examples of the types of conduct that may constitute bullying and are prohibited by the district include, but are not limited to:
Physical bullying that inflicts harm upon a person's body or possessions, such as hitting, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping, pushing, taking or breaking someone's possessions, or making cruel or rude hand gestures.
Verbal bullying that includes saying or writing hurtful things, such as teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, or threats to cause harm.
Social/relational bullying that harms a person's reputation or relationships, such as leaving a person out of an activity on purpose, influencing others not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors, or embarrassing someone in public.
Cyberbullying, such as sending demeaning or hateful text messages or emails, sending rumors by email or by posting on social networking sites, or posting embarrassing photos, videos, web site, or fake profiles.