Author Archives: Amy Grech

Home / Articles posted by Amy Grech ()

The HIB Law

New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Classifies HIB as:

Harassment, intimidation, or bullying refers to any gesture, any written, verbal or physical act, or any electronic communication, whether it is a single incident or several incidents, that is rationally recognized as being motivated either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, or a mental, physical or sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic, that transpires on school property, at any school sponsored function, on a school bus, or off school grounds as provided for in section 16 of P.L.2010, c.122 (C.18A:37-15.3), that significantly disturbs or interferes with the orderly operation of the school or the rights of other students and that:

  1. a reasonable person should recognize, under the circumstances, will have the effect of physically or emotionally harming a student or damaging the student’s property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm to his person or damage to his property;
  2. has the effect of offending or humiliating any student or group of students; or
  3. creates an intimidating educational environment for the student by inhibiting a student’s education or by relentlessly or persistently causing physical or emotional harm to the student.
Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB)

New Jersey has been at the forefront of establishing a strong statutory, regulatory policy and program agenda to support the prevention, remediation, and reporting of HIB in schools. Supplied below are information and resources to assist schools in the formation of HIB policies, the implementation of HIB program strategies, the execution of pre-emptive responses to HIB and the adoption of efficient HIB reporting processes.

Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act (ABR)

Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act-2012 Amendments

The laws referenced below can be viewed at the New Jersey Legislature.

  • N.J.S.A.18A:37-13 through 17
  • N.J.S.A.2C:16-1  Bias intimidation

The codes listed below can be found at: N.J.A.C.6A:16

  • N.J.A.C. 6A:16-5.2 Violence Awareness
  • N.J.A.C. 6A:16-5.3 Incident reporting of violence, vandalism and alcohol and other drug abuse
  • N.J.A.C. 6A:16-7.7 Harassment, intimidation, and bullying

N.J.A.C. 6A:3, Controversies and Disputes

For concerns regarding your school district HIB policy, contact the district Anti-Bullying Coordinator or the Anti-Bullying Specialist in your school.

11 Cyberbullying Facts

DoSomething.org is a global movement featuring millions of young people making positive change, online and off! You’ll find 11 facts listed below, along with sources can be found here. After you learn something, Do Something! Make the Internet a more compassionate place by anonymously reporting cyberbullying content online via our Shred Hate campaign, sponsored by ESPN, MLB, and No Bully.

  1. Approximately 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been bullied online. 30% have experienced it several times.
  2. 95% of teens in the U.S. are online, and most access the Internet on their mobile device, making it the most common platform for cyberbullying.
  3. 23% of students indicated that they’ve said or done something mean or cruel to another individual online. 27% indicated that they’ve experienced the same from someone else.
  4. Girls are more prone than boys to be both cyber bullying victims and perpetrators. 15% of teen girls have been the target of at least four different kinds of abusive online behaviors, compared with 6% of boys.
  5. Approximately half of LGBTQ+ students encounter online harassment—a higher than average rate.
  6. Instagram is the social media site where most young people report encountering cyberbullying, with 42% of those surveyed encountering harassment on the platform.
  7. Young people who encounter cyberbullying are at a higher risk than those who don’t for both self-harm and suicidal tendencies.
  8. 83% of young people think social media companies should be doing more to tackle cyberbullying on their platforms.
  9. 60% of young people have observed online bullying. The vast majority do not intervene.
  10. Only 1 in 10 teen victims will tell a parent or trusted adult about their abuse.
  11. 4 out of 5 students (81%) say they would be more likely to intervene in instances of cyberbullying if they could report it anonymously.