Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying Data Released For Westfield Schools

WESTFIELD, NJ — As schools around the country recognize the "Week of Respect" this month, an assessment on Westfield Public School District's anti-bullying and harassment policies has been released.

Superintendent Raymond González introduced two reports at Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting, which assess incidents of Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) at Westfield Schools. According to a Student Safety Data report, a total of 24 incidents of HIB were reported in the district from Jan. 1 to June 30 of 2022.

The report specifies that these incidents of bullying may include violence, vandalism, substances, weapons and HIB.

Edison Intermediate School had 10 reported incidents of HIB since January, which is the highest out of all the schools in the district, according to the report.

Westfield High School trails behind at seven reported incidents, followed by Roosevelt Intermediate School at five incidents and both Tamaques and Franklin Elementary Schools at one incident.

The report also shows categories for other incidents of bullying that led to the removal of a student, as well as alleged incidents that were not confirmed.

Westfield High School had six students removed in the second-half of last school year due to other HIB incidents, according to the report.

González also introduced the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Self-Assessment.

"Each year the New Jersey Department of Education requires that schools and school districts rank themselves according to eight core elements associated with the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights," González explained.

He said this involves assessing themselves on anything from HIB programming, training, HIB-related staff and HIB-related reporting.

On the self-assessment report, González said Westfield Schools' self-assessments ranged from a total of 61 points up to a total of 75 points out of a total of 78 points.

Westfield High School scored the lowest on the self-assessment, at 61 points, whereas Washington Elementary School scored the highest at 76 points, according to the report.

The high school scored the lowest in areas like training on HIB policy, staff instruction/training, curriculum and instruction related to HIB, as well as school-level HIB reporting.

You can view the full report here.

In terms of next steps, González said the district will be working with the new Director of Guidance to review the data and refine the district's practices on anti-bullying policies.

González added that the district is running a number of programs in honor of the "Week of Respect." This includes themed-clothing days in the elementary schools where students dressed up in sports jerseys to emphasize teamwork, mismatched clothes to show respect for each other's differences and wore shirts backwards to show that "you can't take back your words."

Students at the intermediate schools and the high school also participated in lessons and class-wide discussions on tolerance and respect, according to González.

"We don't just celebrate this work just one time of year, but it truly is an ongoing effort and endeavor in our schools to ensure our schools are sage places for our students," González said.

You can view the full Board of Education meeting on YouTube.