Anti-Bullying Interventions Strengthened In High School Handbook Revisions

Next year's Melrose High School handbook includes more intervention at earlier stages of bullying as the school adapts to the state's new anti-bullying law, Principal Joe Dillon told the Melrose School Committee at its meeting Tuesday evening.

The revised handbook also further restricts which students are eligible to attend summer school to those with a final grade from 50-59 and sets a 48-hour period for students to turn in a doctor's note and have their absence excused.

The most significant addition to the school's bullying policy is making counseling available and recommended for any victim of bullying or harassment, whether the incident is classified as a Level 1 incident, the lowest in the handbook, through a Level 4 incident, which are the most serious incidents, Dillon said. Peer mediation is also available for any incident.

Counseling can include at at least one session and regular check-ins with student's guidance counselor; possible referral to the school psychologist; or possible referral to an outside agency or therapist, according to the handbook's new guidelines.

Also, parents will be notified regardless of what level the bullying or harassment incident falls under; Dillon said that's new for Level 1 incidents, which he said are typically "singular incidents that fall under the more common category of name calling." Also, all bullying and harassment incidents can be referred to the Melrose Police Department's school resource officer.

School Committee member Christine Casatelli asked when Level 1 incidents would be referred to the school resource officer. Dillon responded that if corrective actions, such as peer mediation, prove to be effective, there would be no reason to notify the school resource officer.

"That doesn't mean we can't informally speak to the school resource officer, or that all our harassment cases reviewed by [Guidance Director] John Buxton," he continued. "Often times in level 1, it's a either a 'he said, she said' or a problem that has to do with social disagreements between two people. We feel in Level 1 that the most effective deterrent is peer mediation. Sometimes peer mediation is not the route either parents or students want to go; nonetheless we always recommend that. Should there be any repeat of a Level 1 incident ... even if it seems minor, if it then becomes pattern-like, pattern-like is much different than a singular incident and the school resource officer would be notified."

Casatelli also noted that the district's strategic plan uses recorded incidents to measure how much progress is made in reducing bullying. Dillon said that all bullying and harassment incidents — and the subsequent corrective action — are documented by Buxton.

"One of the first advisory periods in the fall will be an advisory on harassment," he added. "It includes not only include the definitions of harassment and bullying … but also the role of bystander, the role of the victim and anything else we can come up with. It's a fairly comprehensive PowerPoint put together by teachers and administrators, with input from Student Action Board."

Summer school, excused absences further restricted

Dillon said the changes to the summer school program and only allowing students who receive a 50-59 final grade to attend summer classes is the result of a three-year discussion among teachers and administrators. Students who receive a final grade below 50 must make up that course during the following school year with one exception for seniors, which is determined on an individual basis by the principal.

"The concern was that a student who failed a first quarter with a grade of 20 felt they had no possibility of necessarily passing that course, so the natural inclination was to just 'pass' on that course — to be there physically, maybe, but not be there in any other way," Dillon said.

While a large number of Melrose students do not attend summer school, Dillon added, a significant percentage of those students take more than one summer school or course or the same subject, such as English, year after year.

"The difference, obviously, between summer school and a regular English class is  the amount of work that's required during the course of the year, compared to an abbreviated summer school class," he said. "It would be impossible to require students to complete all those assignments (during the summer) ... it's more to make sure all students are exposed to a significant portion of the curriculum."

For excused absences, the new 48-hour deadline for students to hand in doctor's notes to have their absences excused is a result of an end-of-the-term rite, Dillon said — students all handing in those notes well after the absence happened, after they became concerned about reaching seven unexcused absences, which results in a failing grade for the term.

"We were receiving doctor's notes that didn't necessarily connect to the absences that the student had," he said. "Rather than playing that game, we decided that 48 hours is a reasonable amount of time to bring in a note documenting that absence."

Committee member Carrie Kourkoumelis noted that in some cases, such as the H1N1 flu or strep throat contracted from a sibling, parents are told not to take their child to the doctor's office to avoid infecting anyone else. Kourkoumelis asked

Dillon responded that "in any policy there's some flexibility" and those situations cited by Kourkoumelis would constitute "reasonable exceptions to a reasonable policy." He added that the school has an appeal process for students who exceed the allowable number of unexcused absences.

Committee member Kristin Thorp, chairwoman of the policy and planning subcommittee, noted that the School Committee's role is to determine whether the handbook follows the committee's policies, while offering feedback and comments. The committee unanimously voted to approve the handbook.