AUBURN - The Auburn Board of Education's Policy Committee is working on reviewing and updating the district's bullying policy, which was crafted in 2004.

Susan Scheuerman, a board member and committee member, said Tuesday there isn't more bullying going on in the Auburn Enlarged City School District than in any other district in the nation.

“It is a wide issue affecting students,” Scheuerman said. “Our job as a policy committee is to revisit our policies.”

The committee is now gathering data from the district's schools to ensure the policy is complete, said Scheuerman. She said a bullying prevention plan will be added to the policy.

“We want to take an existing policy and see if it is meeting the needs of folks who look to it as a resource,” said Scheuerman. “This is a real hot item in all school districts - especially in relation to cyber-bullying.”

There is a small paragraph in the current policy concerning cyber-bullying - bullying that takes place over the Internet or via cell phone text messages.

Scheuerman is currently working on the wording of the policy, she said. She hopes to have the prohibition of bullying included in all student handbooks in the district.

Another important component of the new policy is that it will spell out precisely what is meant by the term “bullying” so the district can provide its students with a “safe and productive learning environment,” Scheuerman said.

She pointed out that there is a hierarchy of severity when it comes to different acts of bullying.

Several small instances of bullying over time might or might not be equal to one serious act of bullying that occurs only once. Each instance of bullying must be seen on a case-to-case basis, she said.

There was significant discussion during the meeting of who in the schools should be designated as investigators of bullying complaints.

Scheuerman suggested that schools should have both male and female staff members who will be responsible for hearing reports of bullying.

She said giving students a choice, based on gender, of a person to report to has been proven to be effective.

Ginny Kent, board member and chair of the Policy Committee, brought up the idea of not designating any one staff member as a bullying investigator, but rather advising students to go to any trusted faculty or staff member to file a bullying complaint.

Not all committee members expressed opinions that bullying is an especially large problem in Auburn schools.

“I'm not aware of a wave of bullying in the schools,” said David Lansford, board and committee member. He believes it is common for children in middle school to tease and bully. Superintendent J.D. Pabis said that once students are past ninth grade, bullying other students is no longer seen as “cool.”

Scheuerman stressed the long road that is ahead when trying to combat bullying in school - an age-old problem that has plagued students seemingly forever.

“It isn't going to be easy,” said Scheuerman. “With 4,800 students, it's not going to happen overnight.”

Mindy Jackson, a concerned parent, showed up to the meeting to watch the committee discuss the policy. Jackson said her son was bullied recently at an Auburn middle school. Although the students who bullied her son have been disciplined, Jackson is still not satisfied with how her son's case was handled.

“We tried everything (to get the bullying to stop),” she said. “It just kept continuing.”

The next policy committee meeting will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Harriet Tubman Administration Building, 78 Thornton Ave., Auburn. It is open to the public.

Staff writer Kelly Voll can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or kelly.voll@lee.net