Bullying
Vine Academy Bullying Policy
Adopted: November 19, 2021 Updated: November 18, 2022
Part One: Definition
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. At Vine Academy, bullying is taken very seriously and will not be tolerated.
To elaborate, according to the state of Illinois, bullying includes "cyber-bullying" and means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or electronically, directed toward a student or students that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following:
Placing the student or students in reasonable fear of harm to the student's or students' person or property
Causing a substantially detrimental effect on the student's or students' physical or mental health
Substantially interfering with the student's or students' academic performance
Substantially interfering with the student's or students' ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school
Bullying may take various forms, including without limitation one or more of the following: harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, theft, public humiliation, destruction of property, or retaliation for asserting or alleging an act of bullying. This list is meant to be illustrative and non-exhaustive.
“Cyber-bullying" means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, including without limitation any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic system, photoelectronic system, or photo-optical system, including without limitation electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications. "Cyber-bullying" includes the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages if the creation or impersonation creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying in this Section. "Cyber-bullying" also includes the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons if the distribution or posting creates any of the effects enumerated in the definition of bullying in this section.
Bullying is contrary to state law. However, nothing in this definition is intended to infringe upon any right to exercise free expression or the free exercise of religion or religiously based views protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or under Section 3 of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution. The policy on bullying outlined below is based on the engagement of a range of school stakeholders, including students and parents or guardians and is consistent with the policies of the Vine Academy.
Part Two: Reporting
Reporting: Reports of bullying should be transmitted directly to one of our heads of school, Ms. April Behnke or Ms. Abigail Zillner. This can be done by parents, students, staff, or teachers at any time. Parents and teachers alike may email, call, or talk directly to our Heads of School with any allegations of bullying. Ms. April can be reached at april@vineacademy.com. Ms. Abby can be reached at abigail@vineacademy.com, or you can write to both of them simultaneously at admin@vineacademy.com. You can also leave a message at 630-423-5916 x3.
We strongly prefer to openly, and candidly discuss any accusations of bullying. If you feel you must report an accusation of bullying anonymously, you can simply fill out our basic contact form at https://www.vineacademy.com/contact. For the name and email address, simply type in anonymous or anonymous@email.com. This shall not be construed to permit formal disciplinary actin soley on the basis of an anonymous report.
Retaliation: Reprisal or retaliation against any person who reports an act of bullying will not be tolerated. Purposefully making a false accusations of bullying will not be tolerated. If a person engages in such reprisal or retaliation, that person will be considered to be engaging in bulling and subject to the same consequences of any bullying situation. If a parent engages in reprisal or retaliation, their child may be asked to leave Vine.
Notification: If your child is accused of bullying, you will be notified within five school days, but usually much sooner.
· All students accused of bullying will be notified promptly of the accusations
· Accused students and their parents do not have a right to know who accused the student of bullying.
· Those who make accusations, those who have been bullied, and parents of those who have been bullied are entitled to know that an investigation has taken place and that restorative measures are being taken. However, they are not entitled to all details of the consequences of the incident.
· The privacy of both the accused and the accuser will be given significant consideration.
Investigation: Once an accusation of bullying has been received, we will make all reasonable efforts to complete the investigation within ten school days after the date the report of the incident of bullying was received.
· In our investigation, we will take into consideration additional relevant information received during the course of the investigation about the reported incident of bullying.
· We will involve interview teachers and students in order to
· Notifying the principal or school administrator or his or her designee of the report of the incident of bullying as soon as possible after the report is received.
· Consistent with federal and State laws and rules governing student privacy rights, providing parents and guardians of the students who are parties to the investigation information about the investigation and an opportunity to meet with the principal or school administrator or his or her designee to discuss the investigation, the findings of the investigation, and the actions taken to address the reported incident of bullying.
Part Three: Prevention
The main way that bullying is handled at Vine Academy is through prevention. This means:
· Faculty maintains ongoing relationships with students through regular check ins, small class sizes, and regular class meetings.
· Interpersonal problems between students are problem solved through our formal problem solving process as soon as they are identified. We solve small problems now so that we don’t have to solve bigger ones later.
· Through class meetings and class activities, students are taught nine school values. Three of these include encouragement of others, empathy for others, and self-advocacy. All of these work together to help prevent bullying.
· We work on training students, through class meetings, how to support each other, what to do if they find themselves as bystanders to bullying, and how to report bullying to teachers.
Part Four: Response
Tier One: Minor or initial incidents of bullying will typically be responded to with basic problem solving sessions. This may involve, but is not limited to…
· Discussing the incident with one or more teachers to make sure that the student understands the gravity of the situation
· Requiring the student to make amends (apologize) verbally or through written communication
· Making plans to prevent the issue underlying the bullying
· Setting up regular check ins between the student and a Vine staff member.
· Class meetings to work on social and interpersonal skills for the student’s program.
· Closely supervised social lunches where the teacher works with small groups of students on social and interpersonal skills.
Tier Two: If a student continues to bully despite an initial problem solving, uses technology to engage in bullying outside of school, or engages in a more serious incidence of bullying, more serious measures may be taken. These may include, but are not limited to….
· The student will meet with one or more heads of school and his or her parent.
· The student may be removed from school activities where there is an opportunity to bully another student. This may include being moved to an alternate lunch setting, missing class parties, missing field trips, or more.
· The student may be required to participate in reflective lunches, where the student reads excerpts from books about bullying, responds to them in writing, and discusses with a designated teacher.
· Logical consequences may also be assigned. The student may lose privileges such as access to technology if technology was used in bullying or the ability to walk independently in the halls if issues are happening between classes.
· Everything listed in tier one.
Tier Three: Additional restorative measures may be required for very serious incidents of bullying, incidents where the student seems to have underlying trauma to resolve, incidents where the student seems to have underlying need for psychological services, or repeated bulling. These may include, but are not limited to…
· Requiring the parent to provide proof of therapy sessions; these will not be provided by Vine Academy.
· A break from school if the student and family needs time to refocus the student, set up therapy, or find other services for the child
· In school suspension of one to five days
· A mutual decision between Vine and the parents that Vine is not equipped to meet the student’s more serious behavioral needs.
· Everything listed in tiers two and three.
Tier Four If bullying persists despite problem solving, is particularly violent, or if the student is felt to hold a serious threat of ongoing violence against other students, the student may be expelled from Vine Academy. An expulsion goes on the student’s permanent record.
Part Five: Evaluation
This policy will be posted at www.vineacademy.com/bullying and included in our school handbook that is sent out to parents, students, and teachers each summer.
This policy will be reviewed annually, and updated in our school handbook that is sent out to parents, students, and teachers each summer. Before that time, we will evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of the policy through
· frequency of victimization, as recorded by tracking of Heads of School
· identification of areas of a school where bullying occurs and types of bullying utilized, as recorded by tracking of Heads of School
· student, staff, and family observations of safety at a school, as recorded by an analysis of all parent emails related to bullying, student reports of bullying verbally, through class meetings, or in any other format.
· bystander intervention or participation, through discussion with teachers about each year’s class meetings