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:

• Any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident or a series of incidents.

• The gesture(s) is reasonably perceived as being motivated by either an actual or perceived characteristic such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or 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 and that substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operations of the school.

• One of the following criteria must be met:

  • A reasonable person should know, under the circumstances, that it will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging a student’s property or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his person or his property; or

  • 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.

There are many different forms of bullying. **Remember that in order to be considered bullying under the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, whatever is said or done needs to be motivated by a distinguishing characteristic and create a hostile educational environment for the victim. If it does not meet the above criteria, it is a violation of a school’s code of conduct.** An act that is proven to be a violation of the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill or Rights Act is always a code of conduct violation. However, a code of conduct violation is not always a violation of the NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act.

• Verbal Bullying: This involves using words to hurt people.

  • Teasing

  • Name-calling

  • Inappropriate sexual comments

  • Taunting

  • Threatening to cause harm

• Physical Bullying: This includes repeated aggressive physical acts that hurt somebody’s body or hurts or destroys someone’s property or possessions. Physical bullying includes consistent acts of aggression such as

  • Hitting, kicking, pinching

  • Spitting

  • Tripping or pushing

  • Taking or breaking someone’s things

• Psychological Bullying: Includes spreading rumors, purposefully keeping people from activities and breaking up friendships or other relationships.

• Relational Aggression: Relational Aggression is consistently excluding another student from the peer group, repeatedly ignoring someone, spreading gossip about someone, and/or withholding friendship. It also can take the form of manipulating a group of friends to exclude one member of the group.

  • Boys: According to decades of human aggression studies, boys traditionally act in a more physical way than girls, and they are not typically as relational. Social status among friends for boys in middle and high school comes from how “tough” they are.

  • Girls: Most girls will use words to hurt other girls. This behavior usually peaks in middle school and focuses on consistently attacking someone’s relationships with others.

  • Cyberbullying is a type of relational aggression. Cyberbullying is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person, often done anonymously.” Cyberbullying can include mean text messages or emails; rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and the creation of fake websites or profiles with embarrassing photos and videos. Today, in the age of social networking, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and texting, the cruelty of cyberbullying can be anonymous, faceless, and sometimes difficult to track if kids share electronic devices or make up fake online profiles. Other times, it can be easy to track as many kids taunt others openly on social media in order to get more reactions. It is much harder for a victim to walk away from cyberbullying because it is more difficult to ignore. With cyberbullying, even in the safety of your own home, in your own room, or at your own desk—a bully can find you.

Guidance for Parents on the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act developed by the New Jersey Department of Education. This extensive document shares information about the law, policies and processes involved with HIB along with resources for parents.

Guidance for Parents on the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act

Parents Tutorial on the ABR