Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Berkeley Heights reports fewer confirmed HIB findings; district emphasizes remediation and prevention programs
Summary
Anti-bullying coordinators John Morrison and Casey Neves reported trends showing fewer confirmed HIB findings at older grade levels, a move toward electronic incident reporting, and a growing set of prevention programs including Zones of Regulation and community partnerships.
John Morrison, the district's elementary principal and anti-bullying coordinator, and Casey Neves walked the board through how the district defines, investigates and responds to HIB incidents and highlighted a range of prevention programs.
————————Morrison said HIB incidents increasingly arise through electronic channels and often involve targeting based on protected characteristics. He reviewed the district's investigative process (initial contact and interviews, a 24-hour window for initial outreach when reports reach administrators, use of HIPSTER incident tracking) and underlined the district's emphasis on remedial actions that teach and correct behavior rather than relying solely on punitive measures.
"What I really wanna focus on, though, are the remedial actions," Morrison said, explaining that long-term behavior change is more likely when students receive remediation and skill-building rather than only punishment. The presentation included year-over-year data showing a peak in investigations in 2021'2 and fewer confirmed findings in high school, with the middle school accounting for the bulk of investigations.
Neves described prevention programming across grade levels: feel-good Fridays, wellness Wednesdays, advisory curriculum aligned to monthly precepts (connection, empathy, kindness), Challenge Day (100 sophomores attended this year), Zones of Regulation training for teachers and classroom activities, and community partnerships (YMCA, BHPD) for parent and student programming.
Board members asked about how students are trained to recognize HIB versus conflict and the district clarified age-appropriate instruction occurs at every grade level and that HIB is addressed directly. Morrison and Neves said building-level school-safety teams complete annual self-assessments and that anti-bullying specialists work across schools when needed. They also said the district will invite legal counsel to the anti-bullying specialist meeting to confirm processes and ensure practices are current.
