DIGNITY FOR ALL STUDENTS ACT (DASA) & Anti-Bullying Policy at PHS

Everyone at Plattsburgh High School is committed to making our school a safe and caring place for all students. We will treat each other with respect, and will refuse to tolerate bullying in any form at our school.

Bullying – A Description of the Behavior
Bullying has been described as an unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. According to the United States Department of Education (USDOE), bullying generally involves the following characteristics:

• An Imbalance of Power: Students who bully others use their power, such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity, to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• The Intent to Cause Harm: Determining the intent of an individual who demonstrates bullying behaviors may be difficult. The perception of the person who is the target of those behaviors should also be considered.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors generally happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

Examples of bullying include, but are not limited to:

• Verbal: Name-calling, teasing, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, and threatening to cause harm.
• Social: Spreading rumors about someone, excluding others on purpose, telling other students not to be friends with someone, and embarrassing someone in public.
• Physical: Hitting, punching, shoving, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping, pushing and taking or breaking someone’s things.
• Cyberbullying: willful and repeated harassment and intimidation of a person through the use of digital technologies, including, but not limited to: email, blogs, texting, social websites (example: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), chatrooms, instant messaging, or video voyeurism.

Gender-based-Harassment is defined as willful and repeated harassment either for exhibiting what is perceived as a stereotypical characteristic of their sex, or for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity for femininity. To constitute harassment the conduct must unreasonably interfere with an individual’s education or educational activities or academic environment.

Staff at our school will do the following things to prevent bullying and help students feel safe at school:

• Closely supervise students in all areas of the school.
• Watch for signs of bullying and stop it when it happens.
• Respond quickly and sensitively to bullying reports
• Take seriously families’ concerns about bullying.
• Look into all reported bullying incidents.
• Assign consequences for bullying based on the school discipline code.
• Provide immediate consequences for retaliation against students who report bullying.

Students at our school will do the following things to prevent bullying:

• Treat each other respectfully.
• Refuse to bully others.
• Refuse to let others be bullied.
• Refuse to watch, laugh, or join in when someone is being bullied.
• Try to include everyone in play, especially those who are often left out.
• Report bullying to an adult.

New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act seeks to provide the State’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function. The Dignity Act was signed into law on September 13, 2010 and took effect on July 1, 2012.

The Plattsburgh City School District condemns and prohibits all forms of bullying, discrimination and/or harassment of students based on actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or sex by school employees or students on school property and at school-sponsored activities and events that take place at locations off school property. In addition, any act of bullying, discrimination and/or harassment, outside of school sponsored events, which materially and substantially disrupts the education process may be subject to discipline.

PCSD Dignity Act Coordinator:  518-561-7500

Reporting an act of bullying

• A student may report complaints of bullying to any school district employee, faculty, or staff.
• Any other members of the school community, whether a victim or a witness, who have credible information that an act of bullying has taken place may file a complaint of bullying to the principal or appropriate school district administrator.
• Any student (and/or parent on the complainant’s behalf) who believes he/she is a victim of bullying (or any individual, including any student who has knowledge of any incident(s) involving bullying of students) is strongly encouraged to report the incident(s) in writing to a school official.

Investigation requirements for reported acts of bullying

• Within two (2) days of a complaint being filed, an investigation will be initiated by appropriate school personnel. Within (10) school days of the complaint, there shall be a decision by an administrator. However, this time period may be extended for a reasonable period of time if needed.

Disciplinary sanctions (consequences) and due process for a person who commits an act of bullying

• Concluding whether a particular action or incident constitutes a violation requires a determination based on all of the facts and surrounding circumstances, followed by the determination of disciplinary sanctions appropriate to the perpetrator’s position within the district.
• Consequences and appropriate interventions for students who commit acts of bullying may range from positive behavioral interventions, up to, but not limited to, suspension.

Report incidents of harassment or bullying at Plattsburgh High School to:
Jamie Maggy, Principal at 518-561-7500

PCSD DASA Incident Report (pdf)