By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
An annual report into the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) statistics, as well as violence and vandalism figures, for the second half of the 2015-16 school year revealed a spike in two areas within the Hillsborough Township Public School District.
During the Nov. 28 meeting of the Hillsborough Board of Education, District Anti-Bullying Coordinator and Director of Human Resources Michael Volpe presented a set of statistics that showed a sharp increase in substance abuse, as well as a rise in the number of student victims for violent offenses.
The report, which compares figures from January to June of the 2015-16 school year and the 2014-15 school year, showed that under the number of violence and vandalism reports, substance abuse instances jumped to 12 reported cases last year, as opposed to the four reported in the year .
During those same periods, the number of student victims reported in incidents went from five in the 2014-15 school year to 23 last year.
Mr. Volpe said the cause for those numbers to inflate year to year, especially those of substance abuse reports, could not yet be attributed to any one cause.
“When it came to the incidents of substance abuse at the high school, I have asked, but there was nothing they could put their finger on as far as a pattern or group of students who are repeat offenders,” he said. “It seems that for that time period, it was kind of an anomaly.”
Though substance abuse numbers are not consistent with the district’s figures in previous years, officials said they were taking that information “very seriously.”
“We’ve spoken with the high school and any students who are struggling with substance abuse problems, we have obviously tried to get them the help they need to make sure that they make better choices” Mr. Volpe said.
When considering the use of drugs among high school and middle school students, Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff stressed the importance of keeping those figures in perspective with the rest of the student body.
“We have to remember that there are 2,400 children at the high school and another 1,200 kids at the middle school – that’s 3,600 students,” Dr. Schiff said. “Twelve instances over half a year period of time…I’m not discarding that and it’s certainly something we’re going to take a look at, but it’s important to put these into proper context.”
Officials said they have not yet compared these new findings with those of other school districts of similar size.
As for the number of student victims in violent situations, Mr. Volpe pointed to two incidents where at least eight students were involved in an altercation.
Along with the violence and vandalism numbers, Mr. Volpe shared the number of HIB investigations that occurred during the second half of the 2015-16 school year.
According to the report, there were a total of 26 HIB investigations conducted throughout the district’s nine school during that time. The number of affirmed HIB incidents, however, was seven.
That disconnect between the number of reported incidents and actionable instances came from a state requirement that school faculty and administrators remain vigilant to potential HIB violations.“We have a legal mandate to go through and complete an investigation if someone files a charge whether or not there’s a notion of (it being) HIB or not,” Mr. Volpe said. “We continue to educate our students and staff and continue to do our due diligence…Hopefully we can see those numbers go down in time.”
Just because an incident is reported as a HIB incident does not necessarily mean it falls within that category.
Mr. Volpe could not say why there were so many new HIB reports during that time, but that the process to report alleged incidents was being done according to regulations.
“If a parent says that they believe there is bullying or intimidation going on and they say ‘I really don’t want to file a report’…it’s up to us as administrators to file a report to file an investigation and see what’s going on there,” he said. “(We are) trying to sensitize ourselves to the fact that we need to investigate all of these things.”
According to the state, an incident falls under HIB if it serves as a “substantial disruption” of an individual child’s educational process within the school. Motivating factors involved in the incident also have to be related to an actual or perceived characteristic of that student, such as race, creed or sex.
“What the state is focusing on is that the motivation for picking on someone else is because they’re different somehow,” Mr. Volpe said.
What makes a reported HIB incident not actionable by faculty, however, is if there’s not enough evidence to suggest that a motivating factor for the disruption fell under state HIB guidelines.
“Some student can push some other student down the hall, but it doesn’t meet the HIB criteria,” Mr. Volpe said. “Then it’s found as a non-HIB event and then the principal will handle it as a disciplinary matter.”
According to officials, the next round of reporting from the district will take place in the spring.
