Bullying Prevention

Franklin County Schools is committed to providing a safe and secure learning environment for all of our students.  According to the official Jamari Terrell Williams Student Bullying Prevention Act, no student shall engage in or be subjected to harassment, violence, threats or violence, or intimidation by any other student that is based on any of the specific characteristics that have been identified by the Board in the policy. Students who violate this policy will be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

Bullying Definition

 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.  Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious lasting problems.

In order to be 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.

Types of Bullying 

There are four different types of bullying.

1. Verbal Bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, and threatening to cause harm.
2. Social Bullying, sometimes referred to as relational 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, or embarrassing someone in public.
3. 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, or making mean or rude hand gestures.       
4. Cyber Bullying is posting/sending hurtful texts, emails, or posts, making online threats, imitating others online or using their log-in, deliberately excluding others online, and spreading nasty gossip or rumors online.                                                               

 Character Counts

Franklin County Schools uses the Character Counts Program to help foster a positive climate within our schools.  This program not only helps improve academic achievement, but also helps combat bullying.  The program uses its "Six Pillars of Character" to create a positive learning environment for our students. For more information about the Character Counts Program, please visit the link provided on this page.