Bullying and Cyberbullying
All students should feel physically and emotionally safe at school. Bullying behavior is completely unacceptable. Bullying prevention starts with the knowledge of what it means to engage in or become a victim of bullying.
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Examples include:
Teasing
Name-calling
Inappropriate sexual comments
Taunting
Threatening to cause harm
Social bullying involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Examples include:
Leaving someone out on purpose
Telling other children not to be friends with someone
Spreading rumors about someone
Embarrassing someone in public
Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Examples include:
Hitting/kicking/pinching
Spitting
Tripping/pushing
Taking or breaking someone’s things
Making mean or rude hand gestures
Cyberbullying takes place through text messages, apps, or online social media, forums, or gaming platforms where people can view, participate, or share content. Examples include:
Sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else
Sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation
The most common places where cyberbullying occurs are:
Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok
Text messaging and messaging apps on mobile or tablet devices
Instant messaging, direct messaging, and online chatting over the internet
Online forums, chat rooms, and message boards, such as Reddit
Email
Online gaming communities
Education Code 234.6 cites the following possible forums for social media bullying:
Internet websites with free registration and ease of registration
Internet websites offering peer-to-peer instant messaging
Internet websites offering comment forums or sections
Internet websites offering image or video posting platforms
