Bullying/Cyberbullying

The John Glenn Middle School expects students to conduct themselves in a manner in keeping with their levels of development, maturity, and demonstrated capabilities with a proper regard for the rights and welfare of other students, school staff, volunteers, and contractors. Please refer to the John Glenn Middle School Student Handbook sections on Rules and Expectations for a more detailed listing of students' rights and expectations.

Definition of Bullying and Cyberbullying

Bullying takes place when a stronger or more emotionally or socially powerful individual intentionally and repeatedly hurts, threatens, or torments a more vulnerable individual. Bullying:

• is deliberate.
• happens repeatedly.
• represents a marked imbalance of power between bully and target. Bullying is a one-sided, unfair match.

Bullying, therefore, is different from a single incident of teasing. It is, in fact, an abuse of power. Bullying also differs from play, and from the normal conflicts of childhood. When two children of approximately equal strength or power are engaged in a fight, it is not bullying. Thus, although all acts of bullying are aggressive, not all aggressive acts are bullying. Bullying can occur face to face or it can happen behind one's back, especially through cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of any electronic devices. Bullying can be short-term or it can last a long time. Bullying can be done by an individual or by a group.

• If a student feels that s/he is being bullied, it is important to tell a trusted adult, a parent, teacher, counselor, principal, or nurse, who can help him/her.

Our Core Beliefs and Expectations:

We believe that standards for student behavior must be set cooperatively through interaction among the students, parents and guardians, staff, and community members, producing an atmosphere that encourages students to grow in self-discipline. The development of this atmosphere requires respect for self and others, as well as for district and community property on the part of students, staff, and community members.

We believe that the best discipline is self-imposed, and that it is the responsibility of staff to use disciplinary situations as opportunities for helping students learn to assume responsibility and the consequences of their behavior. Staff members who interact with students shall apply best practices designed to prevent discipline problems and encourage students' abilities to develop self-discipline.

Since bystander support of harassment or bullying can support these behaviors, the district prohibits both active and passive support for acts of harassment or bullying. The staff encourages students to support students who walk away from these acts when they see them, who constructively attempt to stop them, or who report them to the designated authority.

We expect students to conduct themselves in a manner in keeping with their levels of development, maturity, and demonstrated capabilities with a proper regard for the rights and welfare of other students, school staff, volunteers, and contractors.

Click here for information about the John Glenn Middle School Process of Responding to a Report of Bullying/Peer Aggression. This PDF includes information on expectations of students behavior, definations of cyberbullying, bullying and harassment, and also includes a summary of the middle school investigatory processes and procedures related to the bullying. 

Please be aware that Bullying incidents at John Glenn Middle School are considered a Category B offense to the Student Code of
Conduct and will be disciplined accordingly. In addition to disciplinary consequences, a student found responsible for malicious teasing, bullying or harassment may be required to meet with a school counselor for a number of sessions deemed appropriate by the administration. These sessions may consist of individual or group sessions. 

Ways to Report Bullying:

	Please use any of the following methods to report bullying to the administration of John Glenn Middle School.
Bullying Reporting	Click here to report a bullying incident using an online google form.
Paper Bullying Reporting Form	Download the linked PDF form to report a bullying incident. Be sure to deliver the completed form to the main office at:   99 McMahon Road Bedford, MA 01730
Phone Call	Please call John Glenn Middle School. (781) 275-3201 ext. # 0 for the main office
Email	Please email a teacher, counselor, administrator or other middle school faculty member. All staff and faculty email contacts are on this website.

Please click here for information about the Procedures​ ​to​ ​Report​ ​Alleged​ ​Bullying​ ​by​ ​a​ ​Staff​ ​Member​ ​of​ ​John​ ​Glenn​ ​Middle​ ​School.