Responding to Student Harassment
Student harassment is one of the major issues in todays schools and requires the attention of school principals, administrators, and staff. The schools administration should establish measures for preventing and dealing with student harassment. This is critical because legal issues involving student-on-student harassment are usually extremely fact-specific and differ widely. Julias claim is an example of a student-on-student harassment case that needs to be addressed by the school administration. This paper examines Julias harassment case relating to an incident in which she was emailed a Facebook page with her photo and gun crosshairs over her face.
Investigating Julias Claim Regarding the Facebook Page
While Julia does not know the creator of the Facebook page, the school should investigate the claim. This is primarily because the claim is a form of cyberbullying, which can be harmful and is regarded worse than in-person bullying (Benbow, 2014). In addition, the claim should be investigated because its a potential threat to Julias life. Investigating the claim would entail using the schools anti-cyberbullying policy to determine the necessary course of action (Salinas et al., 2013). Some potential actions would include taking a screenshot or a printout of the page, talking to her friends to identify the perpetrator, and communicating to her parents. Failure to investigate the claim could have significant impacts on Julia and the school as it could result in low self-esteem, lower grades, resistance to attend classes, poor interactions between students, and even mental health issues.
Course of Action if the Perpetrator is a Known Student
If the perpetrator of the cyberbullying incident is found to be a known student at the school who created the page through his home computer, the school should carry out relevant disciplinary action based on its policy and...
This could include informal disciplinary action or calling in the relevant law enforcement authorities to address the matter depending on the state laws. The involvement of relevant state authorities is essential since nearly all schools have enacted some form of
legislation to help prevent and/or eliminate cyberbullying (Cooper, 2021). However, the perpetrator is likely to argue that such an action would a violation of her free speech protections under the First
Amendment. Additionally,
case law has focused on restricting the ability of schools to limit students speech beyond what takes place at school. School administrators could argue against such arguments on grounds that the perpetrators action threatens the schools ability to provide a free and safe learning environment for all. If student speech at home affects the ability of the school to provide a safe and secure learning environment for all, the school can institute disciplinary action against perpetrators.
Creation of a Facebook Page with Fake Photographs
If the investigation finds that the same student is guilty of creating a Facebook page with fake photographs that generates wrong perceptions about a teacher and the assistant principal, the school can still take action against him/her. This would require examining what state laws and school district policies say about such an incident. Potential courses of action based on state laws and school district policies include having a stern talk with the perpetrator, talking to his/her parents, and disciplining the student (Gordon, 2020).
School Policies and Procedures for Student Bullying
The school has established an anti-bullying policy that defines what constitutes bullying and procedures to be undertaken to deal with bullying…
