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Community Corner

Centennial Superintendent Responds to Bullying Concerns

Centennial Superintendent Joyce A. Mundy shard a letter on Patch Thursday regarding concerns over bullying. Mundy posted the same letter on the district's website.

The following was posted to Patch Thursday by Centennial Superintendent Joyce A. Mundy. The same letter was posted to the district's website. 

The response comes hours after Patch shared this message that was posted on its boards.

Dear Centennial Parents, Community Members, Faculty and Staff, 

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I have become aware that a confidential matter in our high school with respect to bullying among a select group of students has spilled over into social media. There is an issue at play, and Centennial School District is not permitted by law to discuss the details or any of the names, especially while a police investigation is in progress.  Please realize we continue to work with students, involved parents, and law enforcement to bring resolution to this as we would in any other instance.

 

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Bullying is one of the most serious problems students face both in and out of school. In fact, there are aspects of this particular situation made more difficult because it is not limited to the jurisdiction of the district. Bullying takes place in all types of environments from youth sports to scouting to schools to the workplace and even to professional sports locker rooms. For that reason, Centennial School District goes to great extremes to educate its students to prevent bullying and to create a safe environment.

 

Thirty (30%) of violence in schools is related to bullying while sixty (60%) of bullying is never reported. Unfortunately, advances in technology have led to new, anonymous, and more pervasive means for bullies to reach their unsuspecting targets, escalating the effect to even higher levels of frustration for all involved. In the present case, the district has acted appropriately by turning over all of the evidence in its possession to law enforcement officials who are our partners in student safety.

 

Despite having state of the art systems in place, it is virtually impossible for every student to be monitored every moment of every day. We need to depend on other means to augment our efforts. Toward that end, CSD has entered into an agreement with NIXLE, a secure communication service to provide anonymous reporting services in a continuing effort to remain one step ahead in the race to eliminate bullying and eradicate the devastating effects to its victims. This system will be available to our returning students in September after new policies and professional development are in place.

 

Until that time, student safety is everyone’s responsibility in our greater community. I urge anyone who is or becomes aware of inappropriate behavior to report it to a teacher, counselor, principal, district administrator or even the police. We will never tolerate bullying, discrimination, harassment and hazing in the Centennial School District.  The enormity of the problem places a burden on all stakeholders to help us reach our goal of a true sense of belonging and a stress free environment for all students and staff.  I am counting on your partnership in protecting the health, safety and well-being for all.

Sincerely,

Joyce A. Mundy, Ed. D.

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