Bullying & Cyberbullying

Denton ISD believes that all students must feel safe and secure in order to achieve their academic potential. Denton ISD employs a preventative approach to bullying through maintaining a positive school climate.

Bullying, harassment, and other aggressive behaviors are conduct that disrupts both a student’s ability to learn and a school's ability to educate its students in a safe environment. Staff and students demonstrate appropriate behavior, treat others with respect, and refuse to tolerate bullying or harassment.

What is STOPit?

The district has adopted STOPit as its new reporting app and has replaced SafeSchools. With STOPit, you have the power to protect yourself and others from harmful, inappropriate, or unsafe behavior. Use the STOPit mobile app to anonymously report incidents to your school. Reporting is completely anonymous. You can include text, images or video. It only takes a few seconds.

What is Bullying?
The Texas Administrative Code Sec. 37.0832 states that bullying is a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power and involves engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct. This includes cyberbullying.
- Has the effect or will have the effect of physically harming a student, damaging a student’s property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or of damage to the student’s property
- Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for a student
- Materially and substantially disrupts the educational process or the orderly operation of a classroom or school
OR
- Infringes on the rights of the victim at school
Types of Bullying
- Physical bullying: using physical force or aggression against another person (e.g., hitting)
- Verbal bullying: using words to verbally attack someone (e.g., name-calling)
- Social/relational bullying: trying to hurt someone through excluding them, spreading rumor's or ignoring them (e.g., gossiping)
- Cyberbullying: using electronic media to threaten, embarrass, intimidate, or exclude someone, or to damage their reputation (e.g., sending threatening text messages).