BUFFALO TWP — Board directors at Freeport Area School District agreed to approve a revised bullying policy at a meeting Wednesday, March 6.

The initial policy, adopted in 2015 and available on the district’s website, defines bullying as an “intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act or series of acts directed at another student or students, which occurs in a school setting that is severe, persistent or pervasive,” interfering with a student’s education, creating a threatening environment and “disrupting the orderly operation of the school.”

The district must review its bullying policy every three years, superintendent Ian Magness said after the meeting.

During the meeting, board director John Haven expressed concern about bullying taking place on school buses, and asked whether bus drivers had the authority to “tell students to stop.”

Magness said bus drivers “absolutely have the authority” to report incidents of bullying and address students involved.

Magness also said there are security cameras in school buses and principals “are aggressive with (bullying).” The district reviews anonymous tips regarding bullying incidents, he said.

He noted the bullying policy is posted in classrooms in every school and is reviewed with students annually.

“Students need to be reminded often of the bullying policy,” said board director John DiGiacobbe.

Magness also said the district promotes activities centered around kindness and teamwork.

“We may not be directly calling it anti-bullying but kindness and promoting kindness is absolutely the opposite of bullying,” he said. “So we’ve found that rather than doing anti-bullying assemblies or videos of this nature, we theme our months and all of our schools in a way that encourages collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, kindness and acceptance.”

“I can tell you that our principals spend quite a bit of time on this,” Magness said. “Sometimes it’s difficult because family feuds, social media feuds enter into the school or on the school bus, where it doesn’t originate, but the effects of which we obviously deal with on a daily basis.”

After the meeting, when asked whether the district would respond to bullying on social media or off school grounds, Magness said “boundaries would be put in place.”

“We would respond appropriately,” he said.