Superintendent: bullying reports down from prior year; board to consider revised reporting form

Superintendent Steve told the board that 24 bullying incident reports were filed this year, three of them anonymous; the district described interventions used, including parent calls, student meetings, schedule changes and reassigning seats to separate students.

"From this year, we had 24 bullying forms filled out. Previous year we had 81," the superintendent said, noting staff aim to improve clarity in reporting by differentiating between isolated teasing and bullying defined as repeated behavior with an imbalance of power. The district plans to adapt a form used in Marshfield to make behavior categories more specific and to align definitions so staff and parents can consistently identify true bullying.

Administrators said changes will include clearer behavioral examples to reduce mislabeling and better integration with Infinite Campus so incidents are tracked consistently. The policy committee will review a possible form change and any related policy language at a future meeting.