The Barnstable Public Schools are committed to working with students, staff, families, law enforcement agencies, and the community to prevent issues of violence. The ‘Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan’ linked below outlines the district’s comprehensive approach to addressing bullying. 

Families are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher or school counselor if they have concerns regarding unkind or mean behaviors. Children who engage in bullying behavior often have lagging skills and can benefit from early intervention. It is essential that families and school staff members work together to respond to and address concerning behavior as soon as possible.

Definition of Bullying: 

Bullying, as defined in M.G.L. c. 71, § 37O, is the repeated use by one or more students or by a member of a school staff, including but not limited to, an educator, administrator, school nurse, cafeteria worker, custodian, bus driver, athletic coach, advisor to an extracurricular activity, or paraprofessional of a written, verbal or electronic expression (cyber-bullying) or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof, directed at a victim that:

1. causes physical or emotional harm to the target or damage to the target’s property;

2. places the target in reasonable fear of harm to himself or herself or of damage to their property;

3. creates a hostile environment at school for the target; 

4. infringes on the rights of the target at school; or 

5. materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.

• To report bullying contact the School Principal or Assistant Principal. Reports may be made in writing or orally over the phone. Bullying Report Form

• High School students may also make reports via the ‘Say Something’ App.

BPS Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan

Complete the attached Notice of Intent to Pursue a Home Education form for your child and return to: 

Kristen Harmon
Assistant Superintendent 
P.O. Box 955 
Hyannis, MA 02601 

When completing the form, please be aware of the following points: 

• Home education programs should normally begin at the start of the school year, and requests should be submitted by June 1 of the preceding school year to allow for proper review and analysis. 

• If this process is initiated during the school year, the student must remain in school until the school district and the parents agree jointly to the home education plan. 

• For students with, or suspected of having an educational disability, the school district must provide or arrange for an evaluation, convene a team to determine eligibility and, if eligible, create an IEP. The district must make services available to all eligible students. 

• A home education plan is valid for one school year, and must be approved each school year.

• Students engaged in home education programs do not receive a transcript or diploma from the Barnstable Schools. 

BPS Home Education Form

• Portuguese.pdf
• Spanish.pdf

Barnstable Public Schools is committed to fostering a culture of belonging, inclusion, and partnership. Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation of any kind, for any reason, will not be tolerated. 

Students and families are encouraged to bring concerns to the attention of their teacher, school counselor, or building administrators as soon as possible so interventions and support can be put in place. The procedures for addressing civil rights violations and sexual harassment (Title IX) are posted at the bottom of this page. If you wish to file a complaint or need additional assistance, please contact:

Title IX Coordinator and Civil Rights Coordinator:

Mary Beth Taylor, Ed.S., MSW
230 South Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Tel. 508 862-4953 ext 1734
Email: taylor_marybeth@mybps.us

Staff Training:

All BPS Educators participate in ‘Annual Mandatory Training’ covering a variety of topics including bullying, harassment, and discrimination. These training modules were provided by ArxED, a company serving over 100 Massachusetts school districts. In addition, the BPS district has a professional membership with ATIXA (the Association of Title IX Administrators), which provides a library of current resources and training materials. Mary Beth Taylor attended the Civil Rights Coordinator One and Two Certification Course. The ATIXA course materials used to train members of the BPS Civil Rights/Title IX Team can be viewed at ATIXA 

Links to Policies and Procedure Manuals:

• BPS Policies and Procedure Manuals
• BPS Civil Rights Procedures for all non-Title IX Claims
• BPS Title IX Grievance Procedure

School Counseling

The mission of the school counseling program of the Barnstable Public Schools is to promote and assist academic, social, emotional, career, and learning development for all students. School counselors serve students, in collaboration with parents, teachers, staff, and the community. While valuing diversity school counselors use a comprehensive approach to facilitate the development of all students to achieve personal excellence, and graduate career and college ready. If you would like to know more about the school counseling services available to your child, please contact the school counseling office at your child's school.

Psychological Services

School psychologists help children and youth succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. They collaborate with teachers, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students that strengthen connections between home and school. School psychologists are highly educated in both psychology and education. The Barnstable Public Schools has a school psychologist in each of our schools. If you would like to speak with one of our school psychologists, please contact your child's school.

• BPS Section 504 Handbook

Barnstable County Department of Human Resources

Barnstable County Resource Directory

Behavioral Health Network

Cape Cod Family Resource Center

Dial 2-1-1

The Barnstable Public Schools’ district vision is to educate the whole child by creating a student centered school culture that addresses students’ physical, social, emotional, and academic needs by creating a safe and healthy learning environment in which students are challenged, supported, and engaged. We address this through social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD), and positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS).

What is social, emotional, and academic development?

Social, emotional, and academic development integrates social and emotional development with academic learning in K-12 education.

What are the competency skills of social-emotional development?

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship skills
• Responsible decision making

What are positive behavior interventions and supports?

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a prevention-oriented framework or approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students.

Families are critical partners in helping their children develop social and emotional know-how. Social and emotional learning starts at home. Families can model the kinds of skills, attitudes, and behaviors we want all students to master; and they can be important advocates for social-emotional learning at school.     

Families should be aware that, just like with academic screening, social-emotional universal screening will allow us to provide the instructional interventions students need to increase their social-emotional AND academic skills. We will be screening all preK-8 students this year. We will be adding more information on our website during the school year.

Family Resources

• Casel.org
• PBIS.org
• Secondstep.org
• Responsive Classroom.org
• Think:kids.org
• https://www.playworks.org

What is social-emotional learning?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

What are the competency areas of social-emotional learning?

1. Self-awareness: The ability to accurately recognize one’s emotions and thoughts, and their influence on behavior. We are looking for a sense of confidence and optimism.
2. Self-management: The ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. How does one managing stress, control impulses, motivate oneself, and set and achieve goals.
3. Social awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Does a student understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and do they recognize resources and supports?
4. Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communication and listening skills, cooperation, resisting social pressure, negotiating conflict, and seeking and offering help when needed.
5. Responsible decision making: The ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions. Are students aware of safety concerns, social norms, realistic consequences, and the well-being of self and others?
   
   

What is Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports?

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a prevention oriented framework or approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students.

What are school-level PBIS supports?

• Implementation of school-wide tier 1 practices, including strategies for identifying and teaching expectations, acknowledging appropriate behavior, and responding to inappropriate behavior
• School-wide, multi-tiered behavioral framework implementation guided by Tier 1 school-wide discipline data
• Appropriate supports for staff provided, including leadership teaming, supporting policy, coaching, and implementation monitoring
• What are classroom-level PBIS supports?
• Tier 1 classroom system for teaching expectations, providing acknowledgments, and managing rule violations linked to school-wide, multi-tiered behavioral framework
• Classroom management decisions are based on classroom behavioral data
• Effective instructional strategies implemented with fidelity
• Curriculum matched to student need and data
  
  

What are the foundations of Effective Classroom PBIS?

• Effectively design the physical environment of the classroom AND
• Develop and teach predictable classroom routines AND
• Post, define and teach 3-5 positive classroom expectations AND
• Provide high rates of varied opportunities to respond  AND
• Use prompts and active supervision AND
• Acknowledge expected behavior with specific praise and other strategies 
  
  

Why do schools need to implement SEL and PBIS?

We need to implement SEL and PBIS in order to develop the social and emotional competencies of self-discipline, prevent behavior problems, correct behavior problems, and to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all students.

What are the benefits?

As is displayed in the graphic below, there are large academic and social emotional gains when schools implement SEL practices, and reductions in the risks for failure. In addition, social-emotional learning provides students with many of the skills employers consider critical to success on the job and predicts employment and wages. 

What steps is the district taking to address Social-emotional learning?

The district adopted a definition of what it means to educate the whole child. The Barnstable Public Schools educates the whole child by creating a student centered school culture that addresses students’ physical, social, emotional, and academic needs by creating a safe and healthy learning environment in which students are challenged, supported, and engaged.

In addition, two of the three district’s strategic objectives focus on social-emotional programming.

• Support the development of the Whole Child through social and emotional programming.
• Expand collaborative partnerships to support academic, instructional and SEL programming.
  
  

Our SEL programming includes curriculum, instruction, and assessment:

Universal Curriculum and Instruction: We are addressing social-emotional learning through our Second Step curriculum. Second Step teaches social-emotional skills, such as skills for learning, empathy, how to calm down, problem solving steps, and fair ways to play, to mention just a few. Second Step is currently taught in grades preK-7, with plans to expand it to grade 8.

Universal SEL Screening: Starting in the Fall of 2017 all students in grades preK-8 are screened for social-emotional competency. Those students who need support in this area are provided with an instructional intervention, and reassessed. This is very similar to how we address academic needs. We are researching a universal SEL screening process for students in grades 9-12.

What other steps or programs is the district using to support social-emotional learning?

Each school has developed a positive behavioral support matrix where expected student behavior is clearly defined in all areas of the school, such as classroom, hallway, bathroom, bus, and cafeteria. Not only are the expected behaviors defined, so students know what is expected, but these expected behaviors are explicitly taught.

We have provided various professional development opportunities to building the foundation of social-emotional learning instruction. In October 2017 we had an all-district inservice training with Dr. Stuart Ablon from Mass General’s Think-Kids program presenting the evidence based Collaborative Problem Solving Model. We are very fortunate that this is a partnership through NAMI Cape Cod. We will also be working with NAMI on phase two of this plan by providing extended training to various staff members who will support this ongoing practice in the schools.

We are also providing professional development to teachers and administrators on the evidence based Responsive Classroom practices. In November 2017 administrators attended the two day annual Responsive Classroom conference in Boston. We are also in the planning stages of professionally developing an additional 30-60 teachers in Responsive Classroom practices.

In September 2017 physical education teachers and school assistants were professionally developed in using Playworks, which creates a place for every child on the playground to feel included, and build valuable social and emotional skills.