Keeping Schools Out of Court: Legally Defensible Models of Leadership

Abstract

This paper draws attention to a knowledge gap in leadership models regarding bullying, particularly cyberbullying, an emergent form of student harassment. Given that parents are suing schools for failing to protect victims of bullying, educators need guidance in addressing harassment and discriminatory discourse in popular youth culture.

The focus is on three important considerations: (1) the need to avoid criminalizing children and adolescents; (2) the need to clarify educators' legal obligations to protect students from psychological harm; and (3) the need to delimit educators' legal obligations to sustain school environments that reduce bullying and create equal opportunities for learning. Improved law-related courses, grounded in compatible theories on leadership, social justice, and ethics of care, are recommended for education students. Educators who take courses in these disciplines show great promise in helping schools navigate the unprecedented dilemmas of technology and pluralism through ethical and legally defensible alternatives.

Contemporary schools provide a milieu in which the exchange of differences in culture, morals, religion, and language has the potential to enrich students' lives. This setting also can produce an environment where competing rights, violence, discrimination, and exclusion of some students is a reality. As schools undergo changing demographics, numerous policies to promote equality and reduce discrimination, bullying, and violence have been introduced. These include multicultural, antiracism, and zero-tolerance policies; critical incidence response strategies; and mission statements. The challenge is ensuring that the stated objectives of promoting "inclusive school climates" or "safe and caring school communities of learning" are implemented in actual practice (LaRocque and Shariff 2001, 5).

Research (Shariff 2003; LaRocque and Shariff 2001) has suggested that the plethora of initiatives schools currently employ are largely ineffective and counterproductive. Zero-tolerance policies that originate in military models of discipline (Skiba and Peterson 1999; Giroux 2003) and anti-bullying programs that tell victims to walk away from bullies ignore the realities that come with increased diversity, popular culture, and evolving technology. They also contradict mission and policy objectives to provide safe, caring, and inclusive school environments.

Cyberbullying is an emerging form of harassment that is the product of technological change. It poses a difficult challenge for educational leaders because it occurs in a virtual environment. Preliminary investigation has suggested that schools are reluctant to address this form of bullying despite its potential for long-term psychological harm to the students involved (Leishman 2002). While awareness of cyberbullying has increased, few have considered the extent of educators' responsibilities to address it. This article addresses the knowledge gap in educational leadership related to harassment and bullying, specifically cyberbullying, discusses legal obligations, and outlines considerations for leadership models.

Bullying: Conditions, Forms, and Influences

Bullying typically adopts two forms: overt and covert. Overt bullying involves physical aggression, such as beating, kicking, shoving, and sexual touching. It can be accompanied by covert bullying, in which victims are excluded from peer groups, stalked, stared at, gossiped about, verbally threatened, and harassed (Olweus 2001; Pepler 1997). Covert bullying can be random or discriminatory-racial, sexual, homophobic, or based on social class, abilities, or disabilities (Shariff 2003). Victims can be selected based on their gender, manner of dress, accent, race, sexual orientation, abilities or disabilities, socioeconomic class, religious beliefs, or weight (Glover, Cartwright, and Gleeson 1998).

Cyberbullying is a form of covert bullying that involves the Internet. Perpetrators make anonymous hateful comments or threats, tease and engage in gossip through online chat rooms, and use e-mail to intimidate others. The consequences for victims can be psychologically devastating.

Teen Talk

An interesting irony is that teenagers often use insults and threats as terms of endearment. This makes it difficult for educators to recognize the line at which conversations move from friendly banter to bullying.

Teens often greet one another with statements like "Wass up daug?" They may chide a friend, "I'm going to kick your a-," or tell a friend he's "bad" (meaning he's cool). They may challenge a friend to roughhouse, "Bring it on" (let's fight). While important messages about social inequities, poverty, racism, drugs, and politics are embedded in some rap lyrics, Stereotypie, homophobic, racist, sexist, and violent slurs are preponderate. Moreover, adolescent conversations increasingly are peppered with obscenities. Research confirms that much of this language, when directed at friends, is meant without harmful intent, and teachers often turn a blind eye because of its increasing prevalence in adolescent discourse (Shariff 2003; Devlin 1997).