Galloway School Board Members: New Bullying Guidelines an Administrative Strain

Incidents of violence have plummeted over the last three academic years, prior to the institution of the state’s new bullying guidelines, and some Galloway Township Board of Education members were critical of the amount of time spent enforcing the at the Board of Education meeting Monday night, Oct. 17 at the

“How many administrative hours have we spent on this new mandate?” board Vice President George Schwenger asked. “It just seems like every time a child says boo, we have to write out a report.”

While stating that there is no log of how many hours are spent on working with the new guidelines, Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto did say that many things are being reported that don’t fall under the category of bullying.

In fact, one student did receive disciplinary action for making up a story about bullying, board member John Knorr said.

“Members of the public always ask me why we have so many administrators, and I remind them of all the mandates we’ve got,” Schwenger said. “We have all these mandates. Someone has to act on them.”

“We’re starting to lose focus on the children,” board President Ernest Huggard said.

“Our hope is that the focus is narrowed so we can focus less on the process and more on the children,” Giaquinto said.

“Nonetheless, we are doing everything we are asked to do. … This is a work in progress. I have five days to send a letter to the parents, but today, I had to revise a letter I wrote to make it even more clear, so between the incident and the time the parents get the letter, it could be weeks. Many of these situations are situations in which a parent would never get a letter, but it’s mandatory now. We will be getting feedback about what is and what isn’t working.”

According to a presentation given on the annual Electronic Violence and Vandalism Reporting System given by Giaquinto earlier in the meeting, incidents of violence dropped from to 10 to one from the 2008-09 school year, vandalism dropped from two to zero, weapons offenses dropped from six to zero, and use, possession and distribution of controlled dangerous substances dropped from two to zero.

Police involvement was also miniscule for a district that is home to about 3,500 students.

“There are different things in general that would affect why that number would go down,” Giaquinto said, stating that many things had to do with population, and factors outside the school district.

Galloway already had many anti-bullying procedures in place that already fell in line with the new guidelines. The district has poster contests, an anti-bullying wall, the bully-busting program and several other programs, including presentations by COPS 5. They previously had five essential lessons they were teaching, and have since added five more, including one about true bullying and peer conflicts.

The only difference it’s made for Galloway is in the administrative process. Giaquinto issued the second report under the new guidelines, and the board approved the first report Monday night.

“We’ve always been concerned with bullying,” Giaquinto said. “Whenever it was necessary, the schools have always reached out to the district, and the district has always done what was necessary.”