Dr. John O'Keefe presented the district's semiannual Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) self‑assessment under the New Jersey Anti‑Bullying Bill of Rights Act and said the district "got 100% on the rest of these" indicators while identifying one outstanding point tied to in‑person training for school safety team members.

O'Keefe said the self‑assessment covers the interval 7/1/24–6/30/25 and uses indicators scored 0–3 with a possible total of 78 points. He told the board the district meets most core elements — including school‑wide programming, age‑appropriate curriculum and timely reporting — and that reporting procedures "are pretty iron clad" and comply with statutory timelines.

The one shortfall, O'Keefe said, concerns in‑person professional development for all members of each school's safety team. "The one thing that is logistically difficult…is to sometimes have all members of the school safety team provided with in‑house, in‑person professional development in effective practices of school climate programming," he said. To address that, the district has arranged an in‑person session on March 3 that will include a representative from the New Jersey State Bar Association to discuss protected classes and differentiating social conflict from HIB.

O'Keefe described other steps the district will take to maintain and improve its HIB practices: increasing the frequency of school safety team meetings (SSTs), meeting more often with anti‑bullying specialists (ABSs), continuing multiple training opportunities for ABSs, and individuating climate‑survey data among the three elementary schools next spring. He also said written investigation reports are prepared within two days of completion and that notifications to alleged victims and offenders adhere to the 10‑day statutory rule.

Board members asked for clarification about timelines and supports; O'Keefe reiterated that the district will pursue continuing PD and data‑driven monitoring. He thanked ABSs for their work on HIB and overall school climate.

The presentation concluded with an invitation for board questions; none resulted in formal action at the meeting.