Bullying and harassment prevention

Additional supports could address the impact of home life factors (e.g., adverse childhood experiences [ACEs]) experiences with bullying and/or harassment, or social services for housing and living stability.

To more comprehensively assess concerning behavior, teams should organize their information gathering around themes such as bullying and harassment; mental health and substance abuse; concerning communications; stressors; recent downward progressions in behavior, mood, or social activity; home life factors (e.g., ACEs, present living situation); academic performance; school disciplinary history; inappropriate interest in concerning topics (e.g., past school attacks or mass attackers); weapons use and interest in violence; previous contact with law enforcement; social networks; recent losses or loss of status (e.g., shame, humiliation, loss of significant relationship); and motivation for behavior.

All school staff should encourage communication between adults and students, intervene in social conflicts, and actively confront bullying behavior.

A BTAM team is building a management and support plan for a student whose motivation is grievance-based due to experiences with bullying and harassment.

The team connects with the MTSS/PBIS Tier 1 team to get information on the reported bullying and harassment events so that it can use the data regarding locations, times, others involved, bullying behaviors, etc. to guide its decision-making and more effectively address factors of concern for the student, direct resources to address the student’s motives, and create an environment in which violence is less likely.