Cypress School District

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Student Nondiscrimination and Harassment

The district desires to provide a welcoming, safe, and supportive school environment that allows all students equal access to and opportunities in the district's academic, extracurricular, and other educational support programs, services, and activities. The Board prohibits, at any district school or school activity, unlawful discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, intimidation, and bullying, of any student by anyone, based on the student's actual or perceived race; color; ancestry; nationality; national origin; immigration status; ethnic group identification; ethnicity; age; religion;  pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy or lactation, including related medical conditions or recovery; parental, marital, and family status; physical or mental disability; medical condition; sex; sex stereotypes; sex characteristics; sexual orientation; gender; gender identity; gender expression; or genetic information; or, association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
 
Unlawful discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, intimidation, or bullying, may result from physical, verbal, nonverbal, or written conduct based on any of the categories listed above. Unlawful discrimination also occurs when prohibited conduct is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it affects a student's ability to participate in or benefit from an educational program or activity; creates an intimidating, threatening, hostile, or offensive educational environment; has the effect of substantially or unreasonably interfering with a student's academic performance; or otherwise adversely affects a student's educational opportunities.
Unlawful discrimination also includes disparate treatment of students based on one of the categories above with respect to the provision of opportunities to participate in school programs or activities or the provision or receipt of educational benefits or services.
 
 
Bullying
 
All students should feel physically and emotionally safe at school. Bullying behavior is completely unacceptable. Bullying prevention starts with the knowledge of what it means to engage in or become a victim of bullying.
 
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 considered 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
 
Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Examples include:
  • Teasing
  • Name-calling
  • Inappropriate sexual comments
  • Taunting
  • Threatening to cause harm
Social bullying involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Examples include:
  • Leaving someone out on purpose
  • Telling other children not to be friends with someone
  • Spreading rumors about someone
  • Embarrassing someone in public
Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Examples include:
  • Hitting/kicking/pinching
  • Spitting
  • Tripping/pushing
  • Taking or breaking someone’s things
  • Making mean or rude hand gestures
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place through text messages, apps, or online social media, forums, or gaming platforms where people can view, participate, or share content. Examples include:
  • Sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else 
  • Sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation
The most common places where cyberbullying occurs are:
  • Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok
  • Text messaging and messaging apps on mobile or tablet devices
  • Instant messaging, direct messaging, and online chatting over the internet
  • Online forums, chat rooms, and message boards, such as Reddit
  • Email
  • Online gaming communities
Education Code 234.6 cites the following possible forums for social media bullying: 
  • Internet websites with free registration and ease of registration
  • Internet websites offering peer-to-peer instant messaging
  • Internet websites offering comment forums or sections
  • Internet websites offering image or video posting platforms
Additional information regarding bullying can be found at stopbullying.gov
 
Incidents of bullying may be reported anonymously through a link on each school’s website.
 
 
Hate-Motivated Behavior

The district is committed to providing a respectful, inclusive, and safe learning environment that protects students from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, bullying, or any other type of behavior that is motivated by hate. Hate-motivated behavior is any behavior intended to cause emotional suffering, physical injury, or property damage through intimidation, harassment, bigoted slurs or epithets, force or threat of force, or vandalism motivated in part or in whole by bias or hostility toward the victim's real or perceived race, color, ancestry, nationality, national origin, immigration status, ethnic group identification, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or genetic information, or any other characteristic identified in Education Code 200 or 220, Government Code 11135, or Penal Code 422.55.
 
 
Suicide Prevention

The district recognizes that suicide is a leading cause of death among youth, prevention is a collective effort that requires stakeholder engagement, and school personnel who regularly interact with students are often in a position to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to offer appropriate referral and/or assistance. 
 
 
Statewide Support Organizations

The California Department of Education (CDE) provides a regional list of California organizations providing support to youth and their families who have been subjected to school-related discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
 
 
For complaints alleging noncompliance with the district’s nondiscrimination policy, contact the District Complaint Officer:
 
Tracy Mouren-Laurens
Executive Director, Human Resources/Induction
(714) 220-6908
[email protected]
 
Additional information regarding filing a complaint is available here.