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Oradell board hears HIB self-assessment, approves submission after administrators report 72 of 78 score
Summary
Superintendent’s staff presented the district’s 2023–24 harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) self-assessment, reporting a 72/78 score and plans for continued training; the board approved submitting the self-assessment to the state.
The Board of Education of the Oradell Public School District on Wednesday received the district’s 2023–24 harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) self-assessment and voted to submit the results to the state.
Superintendent Miss Bozios introduced Miss Holly, who said the district’s self-assessment — calculated across eight core elements and 26 indicators for July 2023–June 2024 — produced a total score of 72 out of 78. "Our total was a 72 out of 78," Miss Holly said during the presentation, noting the state provides a baseline score of 52 and a perfect score of 78. The board later approved a motion to submit the self-assessment as part of the consent agenda.
The presentation emphasized that the score measures the district’s policies, training, reporting and investigative procedures rather than the number of incidents. Miss Holly said the district’s strongest areas included curriculum instruction and incident reporting, and that the area of growth was core element No. 5, HIB personnel, which improved after the school safety and climate team met three times last year and involved parents and students.
District steps to strengthen HIB response include continued volunteer training for PTA volunteers (required after a second volunteer visit), adding a third anti-bullying specialist in the district (assistant principals and Miss Cummings were trained as additional anti-bullying specialists), and planned collaboration with the school attorney for deeper training on initial HIB cases. "We are also going to work with the district attorney to do some additional training as we go through our first few HIB cases to make sure that we're doing exactly what is needed," Miss Holly said.
Board members asked clarifying questions about scoring categories and training sources; Miss Holly said training is provided by NJPSA and FEA trainers who bring in legal experts for specialized sessions. The administration said the presentation and full data will be posted online and that Miss Bozios or a certified staff member will sign and submit the self-assessment to the state, per procedure.
The board approved the submission as part of committee motions later in the meeting. The superintendent said a copy of the presentation and the posted materials will be available for the community.
