At KIST, we believe that individual differences should be celebrated, and that everyone should enjoy coming to school, and should feel safe and accepted while they are at school. Preventing bullying behavior is a community effort; all members of the school community—administrators, teachers, staff, students and parents must work together to prevent bullying behavior.
Definition of bullying
Bullying can be physical, verbal, emotional and cyber (which includes e-mail, cell phones, Facebook etc.). Any gesture that is expressed through written language, verbally and/or physically that degrades another person is considered bullying. This includes, but is not limited to, gestures about a person’s race, religion, color, gender, disability, national origin, or any other unique characteristic.
The intent of any bullying is to cause harm to others. Bullying behavior can be, but is not limited to: pushing, shoving, hitting, name calling, picking on, making fun of, and/or excluding someone or several people. Bullying causes pain and stress to those being bullied and is never justified or excusable as “kids being kids,” “just teasing” or any other excuse. The student being bullied is never responsible for being a target of bullying.
Types of bullying
Some types of bullying that may occur include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
| Direct | Indirect | |
|---|---|---|
| Physical bullying | - Assault: striking, hitting, shoving - Throwing things at someone - Taking, hiding, damaging belongings | - Encouraging or persuading others to participate in any type of bullying - Knowing of incidents and not making an effort to stop them (including not reporting them) |
| Verbal bullying | - Insults, including gestures - Harassment - Spreading rumors |
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| Emotional bullying | - Manipulating others - Being unfriendly to or excluding others |
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| Cyberbullying | - Unfriendly or harmful e-mails, text messages, postings - Using cyber media for any of the above |
Philosophy and approach to incidents
KIST believes that school should be a safe and protective setting where students are encouraged to learn and meet their academic goals. All members of the KIST community are expected to demonstrate positive social behaviors. The prevention of bullying behavior is a responsibility and expectation of all KIST administrators, faculty, staff, students and parents.
KIST does not tolerate bullying behavior; incidents of bullying are treated very seriously. However, each incident is handled independently of past incidents; approaches are decided upon based on many factors such as age of the students involved, nature of the incident etc. Any resulting disciplinary action from the investigation of a bullying incident addresses strategies to correct the behavior, to prevent it from happening again, and to protect the student who was bullied from further harm.
Reported incidents of bullying by any KIST student will be investigated whether the alleged incident takes place on or off school property.
Student Care Coordinators are available in both the Elementary and Secondary Schools and play an active role in anti-bullying efforts. They deliver age-appropriate lessons on anti-bullying through their respective social and emotional education curricula, and are available as a resource to students dealing with bullies or to those for whom talking with an adult may help prevent future bullying behavior.
Click here for more information on student care in the Elementary School…
Click here for more information on student care in the Secondary School…
How students should deal with a bully
Verbal/emotional bullying
Students should follow these steps if someone verbally bullies them:
STOP – Take a deep breath. Look the bully directly in the eye.
TALK – Say the bully’s name…followed by “I am not a…” (insert whatever name they called you). Do this loudly where everyone in the room can hear you.
WALK – Turn around and walk away from the situation.
REPORT – Find the closest adult to report the incident to.
Physical bullying
Students who feel like they are about to be physically bullied should walk away immediately, avoid being confrontational (say nothing), and report the incident to the nearest adult. If an adult is not nearby, they should find a friend to be with as bullies often target individuals and back down from groups. They should then report the incident to an adult as soon as possible.
Cyberbullying
Students should keep a copy of any text, e-mail etc. in which they feel like they are being bullied. They should not delete it and should show the message to an adult as soon as possible.
What students should do if they observe bullying
Students should follow these steps if they see someone being bullied:
TALK – Tell the bully to leave the student alone.
WALK – Take the student being bullied by the hand and lead them away.
REPORT – Report the incident immediately to an adult.
Students who observe another student being bulled but do not try to help the person being bullied will be considered as supporting bullying behavior and may also be disciplined.
To confirm their understanding of the school’s bullying policy and their commitment to bullying prevention, all students from Grade 1 to 12 and their parents are required to sign a bullying prevention agreement in their homework diaries at the beginning of each new school year. By signing the agreement, students agree to:
- Valuing individual differences and treating others with respect.
- Not becoming involved in bullying incidents or being a bully.
- Supporting students who have been or are subject to bullying.
- Reporting any bullying observed and understanding that if they don’t report or stop the bullying, they too are supporting bullying behavior.
- Being a good role model by upholding their agreement to prevent bullying behaviors.
