Bullying

1. Does NOT involve play or joking around.
2. There is a deliberate intent to hurt and do harm *(motive).
3. There is a repeated pattern of aggressive, mean or hurtful behavior.
4. Has a negative impact on the victim target.
5. An imbalance of power. One student appears to have more power than the other.
6. The person being hurt has a hard time defending themselves from the behavior.

What Bullying is NOT

1. When students are mutually engaged in play, mutual joking around and playful teasing.
2. Incidental Contact – students are playing a game, there’s physical conduct that’s reasonable due to student’s proximity to one another as well as the nature of the playing (soccer, football, pretend sword fighting, tag, etc)
3. When a child is upset because they are being excluded from a game or activity or a child is not be-friended by a child with whom they wish to play.
4. When a student does not intend to deliberately harm another student in any way *(motive).
5. The student’s behavior is usually not repeated over and over again.
6. The teasing or meanness is done by someone the student has a relationship with but the play gets too rough or the teasing goes too far.
7. When a child says or does something mean to another child in a moment of frustration.

*Motive – Determining a child’s motives is subjective. Teachers and parents must take care not to judge a child’s heart. We can address the behavior but motives are not as easily determined.

FRCS Bullying Policy

FRCS prohibits acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying of a student. FRCS has determined that a safe and civil environment in school is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards; harassment, intimidation, or bullying, like other disruptive or violent behaviors that violate Biblical and moral codes of conduct, is conduct that disrupts both a student’s ability to learn and a school’s ability to educate its students in a safe and disciplined environment.

Signs that there may be a bullying situation

• A child doesn’t want to come back to school on more than one occasion.
• A child verbally expressed his/her fear of another child and experiences anxiety when they’re near that child.
• The perpetrator of bullying is consistently “targeting” another child.
• A child uses a weapon against another child (a weapon can be defined as any physical object that is used to strike, poke, cut or hit another child). This can include a sharpened stick, a utensil, pocket knife or a rock.
• A fight. An altercation or physical event that causes physical harm or injury to a student that is determined to NOT be the result of normal childhood play or interaction.

The purpose of discipline at FRCS

FRCS disciplines student in order to teach them that their behavior has consequences, both good and bad, and that they will be held accountable for their actions. We believe a student should learn the God-given responsibility to walk honorably in every way (Hebrews 13:18, Ephesians 5:15, Psalm 119:1). FRCS, therefore, provides just, firm, and consistent discipline, tempered with love. We maintain standards of behavior with kindness, love, and a genuine regard for the student.

Part of the Fruit of the Spirit is self-control, and God has given each student a will which means they have the ability to make wise or foolish choices.

Discipline also helps the school provide an orderly and safe learning environment, free of distractions and conducive to academic success.

When disciplinary action becomes necessary, FRCS reserves the right to have full discretion in the discipline (excluding corporal punishment), in conjunction with parental notification and also reserves the right to modify the Behavioral Policies to clarify violations, should it prove too vague.

The balance between reciprocity and redemption. As a Christian school we believe every child deserves the opportunity to be shown grace and mercy, especially when there are behavior issues. Reconciliation and restoration are at the very heart of the Christian faith for those in the Body of Christ. At some point, however, FRCS has to decide whether or not a child should remain in the school or if their behavior and history of negative behavior has become a threat to other children.