I-TEAM: CT’s definition of bullying affects bullying claims made by students, parents

(WFSB) - Tonight, the I-Team is taking a hard look at bullying in Connecticut schools.

Many parents have reached out to us over the past year, concerned about what is and isn’t being done to protect their children.

As Sam Smink explains, how the state defines bullying, may have something to do with it.

CLAIMS OF CONSTANT BULLYING:

During the summer, it’s all fun and games for 12-year-old twins Mackenzie and Camryn Basher.

Until they start thinking about this past school year at Schaghticoke Middle School in New Milford.

“These kids kept teasing me and my friends and like we would tell them to stop,” says Camryn Basher.

The girls say they dealt with bullying almost every day of their 7th grade year.

”They would keep being rude, sticking up the middle finger at us and calling us rude names,” says Camryn. “They would call us the F slur. They would throw food at us.”

“They threw plastic knives and plastic forks and spoons like that,” adds Mackenzie.

“Two kids in Mackenzie’s class cornered her and put hand sanitizer all over her,” says Camryn.

“When I see the tears and when I hear the stories they are going through at lunchtime and classes, it’s just heartbreaking,” says their mother, Beth Basher.

It’s the same stories the twins say they shared with teachers at the school.

”They were just like oh just wait, keep waiting, things will change in 8th grade,” says Mackenzie.

New Milford’s superintendent, Janet Parlato, says that any staff member is required to respond to inappropriate behavior and report to administration if the issue is serious enough.

“I was on the phone with the administration, emailing the teachers, I did everything I thought I could do without going above them,” says Beth.

While the girls’ mom Beth says she reported all of the incidents to the school, she says she was never told by administration if what happened to the girls was officially reported as bullying.

CT’S DEFINITION OF BULLYING:

What is considered bullying in Connecticut?

A 2011 state law defines bullying as “repeated acts.”

Only incidents that fit the definition have to be reported to the state.

Crunching the numbers ourselves the I-Team found 58% of schools in Connecticut reported zero bullying incidents for the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent year of numbers available.

But the numbers that were reported may not be accurate.

”One thing that was really powerful is that schools were telling us, the law as it existed was really difficult to comply with,” says Steven Hernandez, the Executive Director of the Commission on Women, Children and Seniors.

He says schools may have incentive to not define something as bullying under the current guidelines.

”This created a separate disciplinary procedure, a separate layer of investigative requirements, very onerous,” says Hernandez. “What did schools do? They said you know what, it’s not bullying until I say it’s bullying, and I don’t see bullying. This isn’t bullying.”

A NEW DEFINITION:

Hernandez helped create a new law that just passed this legislative session, which changes the definition of bullying, to mean unwanted and aggressive behavior, that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The word repeated is not in the definition.

The law doesn’t take effect until 2025 but districts can opt in now.

”We now understand that it can be much more dynamic than that. For instance, social exclusion, we understand that that is a form of bullying. We don’t want to play with Sally,” says Hernandez. “Also, identifying and exploiting differences can be a form of bullying as well.”

New Milford’s superintendent, Janet Parlato, told the I-Team she would not go on camera but says there will be additional training for staff this year on techniques to de-escalate bullying and other mean behavior.

The idea is to get kids, like Mackenzie and Camryn, back to just worrying about being kids.

MORE TO DO:

This is the first of several stories the I-Team is doing on bullying in Connecticut schools.

Tonight at 5 pm, in Part Two, we’re showing you what your rights are as a parent if you feel your child is a victim, and what the school is required to do.

We will also have more on the changes coming to the New Milford School District.