To further help our school be a safe and respectful place, we also teach the Second Step Bullying Prevention Unit. In the lessons, your child learns specific skills to help stop bullying.

Students learn how to: • Recognize when bullying is happening • Report bullying to a caring adult • Refuse to let bullying happen to themselves or others • Be a bystander who stands up and is part of the solution to bullying. In the Second Step Program, Bullying is defined as: Bullying is when someone keeps being mean to someone else on purpose. The person it’s happening to hasn’t been able to make it stop. It is unfair and one-sided.

Lesson 1: Recognizing Bullying

Students learn to recognize bullying by understanding that it is mean or hurtful behavior that keeps happening and that it is unfair and one-sided. Teaching students how to recognize bullying helps them understand that bullying is both harmful and against the rules. Emphasis is placed on the fact that no one deserves to be bullied.

Lesson 2: Reporting Bullying

Students learn to report bullying to adults through examples in stories and scenarios and through skill practice. This makes it easier for them to report to an adult when real bullying happens.

Lesson 3: Refusing Bullying

Students learn to use assertiveness skills to refuse bullying after they’ve reported it to an adult. Research shows that students can reduce their chances of being bullied in the future by responding assertively. Combining that with reporting helps students see that they can both help themselves and get help for others, and that doing both is often the best way to handle bullying.

Lesson 4: Bystanders

Almost all bullying has bystanders, and research shows that changing how bystanders react is a powerful way to reduce bullying. Students learn a variety of ways they can respond positively when they witness bullying. They learn the power bystanders have to make a bullying situation better or worse.

NPS Bullying Policy: Bullying is prohibited by Norman Public Schools. It is an anti-social behavior that distracts both the target (i.e., victim) and the perpetrator (i.e., the person bullying another). Bullying a student based on his/ her race, color, creed, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion or any other personal characteristic is grounds for disciplinary action (O.S. 70 §24-100.3). Bullying is prohibited at school and school sponsored events. It is also prohibited: (a) while traveling to and from school; (b) while off-campus during lunch or before and after school; (c) at school bus stops; or, (d) at any other time outside of the normal school day where such behavior has a negative or adverse effect on the discipline or educational process of the school. Bullying may occur in multiple forms, including verbal or written expressions, nonverbal acts or gestures, physical acts, electronic expressions, social media, or any combination thereof directed at a target by a perpetrator. When a student’s behavior towards another student causes physical or emotional harm; creates fear or a hostile environment; infringes on the rights of another student; or, disrupts the education process; it is considered bullying.

When a student believes he/ she is being bullied, or when a staff member witnesses a possible incident of bullying, the student and/or staff member should report the incident to a teacher or school administrator. The principal or his/her designee will conduct an investigation to determine whether bullying occurred. Anonymous reporting of bullying incidents is allowed; however, no formal disciplinary action will result from such anonymous reporting.

Examples of bullying include but are not limited to: (a) unwanted teasing, (b) comments that are threatening or intimidating, (c) stalking or cyberstalking, (d) publicly humiliating another, (e) behaving in a way that physically harms or is physically aggressive toward another, (f) stealing or destroying property, (g) spreading rumors, digital images, or falsehoods, and (h) socially excluding another.