As concerns of bullying grow, BISD continues to enforce its current policies

A discussion about bullying in Breckenridge has been brewing in recent months. What started in social media has turned to comments from the public, which has begun to show in the district’s school board meetings.

Though, despite the increase in whispers, the district has not seen any increase in the number of reports filed, be it for bullying or inappropriate conduct.

Breckenridge ISD Superintendent Tim Seymore said he has heard a little of the conversation, be it through social media or at the last school board meeting in October, but added the issue is not as rampant as the conversation makes it out to be.

“It’s not near what everyone thinks it is in terms of how many bullying reports are actually filed,” Seymore said.

Seymore added he wasn’t sure what to make of the rhetoric surrounding bullying, saying when something arises, be it bullying or any inappropriate incident, the district handles it the way they are supposed to.

“No one is saying specifically an ongoing problem that nobody is doing anything about,” Seymore said. “Just that, ‘bullying is everywhere and nobody does anything about it.’ And I don’t know what to do with that.”

As mentioned prior, worries of incidences began to swirl on social media. This was ramped up when the district was confronted about a particular incident at the school board’s regular meeting last month, when Heather Dabney, a parent in the district, brought up concerns regarding a student.

Seymore stressed the district cannot do anything about a situation if no report is filed. He said the district has the ability to find out a lot of information on any given incident, whether it’s through witnesses or cameras. But if it is not brought to their attention, they more than likely will not find out about it.

A data report on bullying incidences, courtesy of Seymore and the District, states there have been 17 reported bullying incidents across the five schools this year. All reports have been investigated according to the data and one incident of bullying was confirmed. Five of those reports have resulted in disciplinary actions and 11 of them led to prevention plans being made, which is a plan created to minimize the risk of the offense happening again.

To break it down further, there have been 270 offenses between 166 of the students across the district, a hefty amount of which are classified as bus violations, classroom referrals and disruptive behavior. Three of the incidences, which are all at South Elementary, are classified as hands on a student. There are 1,482 students enrolled in BISD.

Seymore said credibility of the data comes from it being monitored by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Office for Civil Rights in Washington D.C. If any figures of specific incidences are off, such as too high or too low based on averages, the departments will look into why this is.

The biggest thing Seymore emphasized was for parents to file reports if they feel their student or another student has been harmed or wronged. On top of this, he said the district is limited in what can be divulged to parents. He said it’s common for a report to be filed, and the situation be taken care of. But it is illegal for Seymore or the district to give details on the incident, or details of discipline.

“If I tell you a child is in In-School Suspension, I just broke the law,” Seymore said. “I can lose my certification, so I’m not going to do that.”

Despite the fact the district cannot give out a lot of information, it doesn’t keep parents from becoming frustrated about the lack of detail they are given. Seymore said this lack of information turns into an assumption that nothing is being done. But Seymore said just because the district is limited in what it can say, it doesn’t mean these situations are being ignored.

One aspect to note is how bullying is defined by the state. According to Texas Education Code 37.0832, bullying, in short, is defined as a significant act or pattern of acts directed at a student. This can be done by a student or a group of students and involves exploiting an imbalance of power between the students, such as size or social status. The act can be done through writing or verbal actions.

While this is the general definition, there are other requirements that must be met. The requirements are:

Could lead to or has caused physically harm to a student, a damaging of their property or puts the student in reasonable fear that they could be harmed

Is severe, persistent or pervasive enough that it creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for a student

It disrupts a students learning and work

It infringes on a students rights while at school

One thing Seymore emphasized about this criteria is, if a student does not meet all these descriptors, he and the district are not legally allowed to label them a bully.

On top of this, Seymore said it isn’t uncommon for an incident to be filed and it turn out both students involved have been behaving badly. While this does sometimes result in both students receiving discipline, incidents like this can hardly ever be classified as bullying, especially if evidence is found that both students have broken code. Other incidents are often one-time issues that do not have a continuing pattern.

“Most of the incidences people complain about bullying are a kid is being mean,” Seymore said. “Kids do mean things occasionally. It doesn’t mean we excuse them, it doesn’t mean we don’t discipline them, but it’s not bullying.”

He and the elementary schools’ PTO President Kim Fuller emphasized the necessity for parents to understand the definitions and classifications of bullying, but also if you feel a student has been wronged to file a report.

“I often get approached about bullying issues and parents requesting information or assistance in that,” Fuller said. “The advice that I give them is to really define bullying, versus a child having an off day or being mean. If you do fall into that category where your child is truly being bullied then … you need to report it to your teachers, to your school and the principal.”

She went onto say the district’s hands are tied if the appropriate procedures are not followed.

This process could involve filing a bullying report or incident report, or a filing a grievance, which Seymore said he offers to upset parents all the time. Those have a time limit in which the district needs to look into it by law, as well as has an appeal process that can be exercised three times.

The first level of a grievance typically goes to the campus principal, who will read the complaint and bring in potential witnesses, and investigate the incident. When this is completed, the investigator fills out a form that details whether they can grant a remedy to those who filed the complaint, a partial remedy, or explain why they cannot grant the requested remedy.

If this does not satisfy the person who filed the initial complaint, they can file a level two complaint, which usually goes to Seymore. He estimated he has had roughly four level-two complaints in the five years he has been the superintendent at BISD. Seymore then goes through an investigation of his own, and responds in a similar fashion of granting a remedy, or not.

The last level, level three, goes to the school board and is put on the agenda. Seymore said he has not had a level three since he’s been at BISD, and in his 16 years of school administration has had three.

“When you believe your kid has been wronged, come immediately to the school with specifics that your kid will back up and say, ‘this is what happened, this is where it happened, this is when it happened,’ and let us investigate,” Seymore said. “Because there is a decent chance we’ll find a camera or a kid or an adult who saw it. There are very few times there are two kids alone in a place that nobody or nothing has eyes on.”

The Breckenridge American will be following up on this story in future weeks. The purpose of this is to inform parents within the district of the appropriate procedures to take when they feel their child is in harm’s way.