CHeS Harassment and Bullying Prevention (revised, Sept. 2017)

Rationale

CHeS, as an independent Christian School, believes in upholding Biblical standards as outlined by our Statement of Faith and Vision and Goals. This includes a mandate to nurture an environment of mutual respect, dignity, and caring towards all students involved with CHeS. As part of our calling to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, CHeS staff will seek to provide a safe and loving learning environment. We will not tolerate, at any time, any form of harassment, bullying, or threat to our students’ physical, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing, regardless of their personal characteristics. We have included a rationale supportive of this wording in our policy.

  1. In the pursuit of providing a school environment that is safe, caring, orderly and respectful of the God-given worth and dignity of each individual, CHeS has adopted the following guidelines:

a) CHeS is committed to protecting the physical safety of all students by identifying and eliminating all forms of violence, intimidation, and aggression.

b) CHeS will seek to ensure the social connectedness of all students by identifying and eliminating actions that perpetuate social exclusion, and by providing equal opportunity for all students to participate in the social life of the school.

c) CHeS will promote inclusiveness and unity by recognizing that each student is wonderfully made in the image of God and has unique God-given talents that can be used to positively contribute to the social life of the school

d) CHeS is committed to eliminating all forms of bullying, including bullying that is targeted at any personal characteristics of a student.

2. CHeS believes in combatting bullying by seeking to understand and address the underlying causes, and by disciplining bullying behaviour on a case-by-case basis. No policy can anticipate every scenario that will arise, but for clarity, CHeS has adopted the following approach to identifying unacceptable behaviour and distinguishing it from acceptable behaviour.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour include, but are not limited to:

a. CHeS is committed to protecting the physical safety of all students by identifying and eliminating all forms of violence, intimidation, and aggression.

    • Disrespecting boundaries, technological, physical, or otherwise
    • Pushing, slapping, punching, grabbing, and all other acts of physical aggression
    • Posting or sharing any personal information about others
    • Not asking permission before posting pictures or stories of others online 
    • name calling, teasing, insulting, accusing and all purposeful attempts to degrade another individual
    • Making up fake identities and pretending to be another person online

b. Examples of acceptable behaviour include, but are not limited to:

    • Inadvertently causing a student to feel uncomfortable while discussing controversial topics relevant to educational outcomes
    • Respectfully disagreeing with an individual on matters of opinion and academic debate, such as morality and ethics, the current state of the law, and politics and public policy
    • Minor physical force, such as what is required for sports and physical activities like soccer, floor hockey and basketball

3. Unacceptable behavior will be dealt with through a Biblical model (Matthew 18). 

    • The teacher or staff person who first becomes aware of questionable behavior will communicate with the individual one on one as a first attempt towards correcting unacceptable behavior;
    • If the student is unresponsive and unchanged the teacher or staff will contact the parent and request their help towards changing the behavior;
    • If this communication does not produce results, CHeS staff will ask for Principal assistance.
    • The Principal may individually interview all parties involved and after investigation:
      1. Determine if further action is required;
      2. Determine consequences for bullying behaviour, taking into account the student’s age, maturity and special needs, if any;
      3. Meet individually with parents of victim and bully; or
      4. Involve outside agencies on behalf of the victim and/or bully.
    • The report of the bullying investigation must be documented, and records of the incident retained in accordance with The Personal Information and Privacy Act.
    • If a student identifies an issue with another student or staff member, then school authorities will take all reasonable steps to prevent retaliation.

 

Scriptures that support our policy:

  1. Gen. 1:27 “God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”…1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God.”
  2. Psalm 139:14 “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.
  3. Luke 10:27 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
  4. Col. 3:11 “A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
  5. 1 Thes. 5:15 “See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.”
  6. Eph. 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
  7. John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
  8. 1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
  9. Jer. 22:3 “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
  10. Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another”
  11. Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Matthew 18:15-16  “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.