HIB Fact Sheet

Role of District Anti-Bullying Coordinator
Maintain compliance with statutory, regulatory, policy and program framework to support the prevention, remediation and reporting of HIB in schools. District resources are developed to aid schools in the establishment of HIB policies, the adoption of HIB program strategies, the implementation of proactive responses to HIB and the adoption of effective HIB reporting procedures.Conducts two professional development trainings during the academic school year.

Role of HIB Specialist

• Coordinate and strengthen the school district’s HIB policies.
• Review and confirm all investigations submitted by district HIB Specialist of cyber, indirect or direct bullying.
• Prevention and Intervention -training and policy enforcement to prevent, identify and address HIB acts in the district.
• Provide data to the NJDOE and Newark Public Schools regarding HIB of students.
• Incidents reported in SSDS must match number of affirmed incidents reported to HIB-ITP* system. (Managed by district administrators and Security)
• Within five school days of the results of the investigation being reported to the BOE, parents of involved student offenders and victims must be provided with information about the investigation.

As of July 1, 2018 NJDOE requires every board policy to include a statement that bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior that may involve a real or perceived power imbalance.

HIB Defined
Any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it is single incident or series of incidents:

• is reasonably perceived as being motivated by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic, and
• that takes place on school property, at any school-sponsored function [or], on a school bus, off school grounds as provided for in section 16 of P.L. 2010, c 122, and substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students, and that: HIB means any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it be a single incident or series of incidents, that:
• substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students, and that: A reasonable person should know, under the circumstances, will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging the student's property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his person or damage to his property; [or]
• Has the effect of insulting or demeaning any student or group of students [in such a way as to cause substantial disruption in, or substantial interference with, the orderly operation of the school]; or
• Creates a hostile educational environment for the student by interfering with a student’s education or by severely or pervasively causing physical or emotional harm to the student.