Skip To Main Content

Bullying Prevention

What is Bullying?

GAPS is guided by the following definition from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (stopbullying.gov):

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

  • An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power — such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity — to control or
    harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
  • Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose. See policy JFCF to view the district’s policy on bullying and harassment.

What is a Bias Incident?

A bias incident is any hostile expression that may be motivated by another person’s race, color, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. A hate crime, known as a bias crime under Oregon law, is any crime where the perpetrator’s motivation is based on bias. Both bias incidents and crimes can be verbal, physical, or visual, and can target someone in a protected class, a family member, or even someone incorrectly perceived to be in a protected class.

For more information about Bias, please visit the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion landing page.

Bias Incident Response Form

Types of Bullying

There are four primary types of bullying:

  • Social bullying involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
    • Leaving someone out on purpose
    • Telling other children not to be friends with someone
    • Spreading rumors about someone
    • Embarrassing someone in public
  • Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:
    • Teasing
    • Name-calling
    • Inappropriate sexual comments
    • Taunting
    • Threatening to cause harm
  • Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
    • Hitting/kicking/pinching
    • Spitting
    • Tripping/pushing
    • Taking or breaking someone’s things
    • Making mean or rude hand gestures
  • Cyberbullying is the use of modern communication technologies to intentionally embarrass, humiliate,  threaten, or intimidate an individual or group. Communication channels may include:
    • Social Media
    • Chat rooms or text messages
    • Email
    • Messaging apps

Additional Resources on Bullying Prevention