Bullying Investigations Down, Violations Up at West Deptford Schools

Investigations into possible incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying in have dropped significantly since the first few weeks of school, though violations as a percentage are up, according to the latest information released to the Board of Education.

Since an initial 31 investigations took place in the first several weeks of September, Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman said there have only been a total of 18 investigations since then.

Unlike the beginning of the school year, , 12 out of the 18 investigations since have been violations of the new policy.

Part of that is from the district’s staff catching up with the learning curve on what rises to the level of violating the policy, Kitchenman said.

“Our administrators and specialists are still looking at everything that’s reported,” he said. “We’re doing a better job on deciding what should get investigated and what shouldn’t.”

Kitchenman also attributed the drop-off in investigations partly to students themselves getting used to the new rules.

“I think our students, especially at (the middle school level) have a clearer understanding of what they can and can’t say and do,” he said.

The bulk of the violations are coming at the middle school, which is something Kitchenman said he and administrators in other districts expected.

Of the 18 violations out of 49 total investigations, 10 were at the , five were at the and just three were at the district’s three elementary schools, Kitchenman said.

“Those statistics basically parallel statistics in any district I’ve communicated with,” he said.

Both Kitchenman and school board President Christopher Strano said it’s hard to glean much from the numbers so far.

“We don’t really know if this is a lot, because this is the first year we’re tracking it this way,” Strano said.

Kitchenman said it’s too early to just the new policy’s effectiveness, adding that a year’s worth of data may give them more insight into the program.

Ultimately, he said the goal is to avoid repeat violators and repeat victims.

“Counseling plays a key role in supporting that,” Kitchenman said. “Since the specialists are counselors, they identify those students and what they need from the very beginning when they start an investigation.”