Section VI: Collaboration with Families

The Taunton Public Schools’ Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan includes strategies to engage and collaborate with students and their families in order to increase the capacity of the school or district to prevent and respond to bullying. Resources for families and communication with them are essential aspects of effective communication. The bullying prevention and intervention curricula used by the school district include:

• how parents and guardians can reinforce the curricula at home and support the school or district plan,
• the dynamics of bullying; and
• online safety and cyberbullying

Parents and guardians will be notified in writing each year about the student-related sections of the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan in the language(s) prevalent among the parents and guardians. Each school or district-specific approach to collaboration will take into account age, climate, socio-economic factors, linguistic, and cultural makeup of our students and their families.

The following are parent resource and information networks that the school or district will collaborate with in working with parents and guardians.

1. Parent education and resources. The school or district will offer education programs for parents and guardians that are focused on the parental components of the anti-bullying curricula and any social competency curricula used by the district or school.  The programs will be offered in collaboration with the PTO, PTA, School Councils, Special Education Parent Advisory Council, or with similar organizations.
    
2. Notification requirements. Each year, Taunton Public Schools will inform parents or guardians of enrolled students about the anti-bullying curricula that are being used. This notice will include information about the dynamics of bullying, including cyberbullying and online safety. The school or district will send parents written notice each year about the student-related sections of the Plan and the school’s or district’s Internet safety policy. All notices and information made available to parents or guardians will be in hard copy and electronic formats, and will be available in the language(s) most prevalent among parents or guardians. The district will post the Plan nd related information on its website.