Week of Respect highlights anti-bullying efforts

Every year, the state of New Jersey observes Week of Respect in its schools. The campaign is held the entire first week of October beginning with the first Monday.

This year, Harrison Elementary School and Pleasant Valley School, part of Harrison Township School District, spent the week of October 5 through October 9 dedicating time and resources to kindness, emotional well-being and anti-bullying initiatives. It also acted as a positive spirit week for students, with different themes and activities on each day.

“Our commitment to fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment extends well beyond the Week of Respect. Through our school-wide STARS Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program, we consistently teach, model, reinforce and celebrate positive behaviors throughout the school year,” said AnnaLisa Rodano, principal of Harrison Elementary School and district Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) Coordinator.

“The Week of Respect provides an additional opportunity to reinforce these expectations through schoolwide activities, classroom discussions and opportunities for students to demonstrate kindness, empathy and respect for others,” she continued.

At Harrison Elementary School, which teaches pre-K through third grade, Rodano said the STARS program stands for Safety first, Try hard and do your best, Respect yourself and others, and Solve problems peacefully. It provides framework for faculty and staff to continuously teach, model, reinforce and celebrate positive behavior throughout the school. It is embedded throughout the students’ entire days: inside the classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, playground and school busses.

“One of the most important aspects of STARS is that it is proactive rather than reactive. We don’t wait for students to make mistakes to teach them about appropriate behavior. Instead, we intentionally teach the behaviors we want to see and provide opportunities for students to practice them,” Rodano said.

School counselors, teachers, support staff and administrators work togethers to help the students learn and appropriately develop emotional awareness, empathy, self-regulation, problem-solving skills and healthy relationship, according to Rodano. She notes that the faculty and staff understand how young their students are and that they are serving these children during important developmental stages. Their approaches through teaching kindness, respect and positive behaviors are intended to lead them towards success as they grow as individuals.

The year-round STARS PBS prorgam includes lessons, activities, schoolwide celebrations and recognition programs in and out of the classroom. This active and ongoing programming has allowed students — also referred to as “explorers” — to recognize positive behaviors within themselves and peers.

“At Harrison Township Elementary School, we want our Explorers to understand that their actions, no matter how small, have the power to make a difference,” Rodano said.

During the Week of Respect, the age-appropriate activities for students included activities, such as completing a “This is How I Show Respect” worksheet with words or images to share with their classmates, where students were encouraged to think about how respect can be conveyed through actions; practicing “70 Ways to Say Hello,” where students came up with different greetings to enforce that even a simple greeting can make an environment feel more welcoming; and wearing green on “Growing Together with Respect Day” as a way to reinforce growth, because just like green plants that “need care, attention and nurturing to grow, so do friendships, relationships and a positive school community,” according to Rodano.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to reinforce the values we work to instill throughout the entire school year,” Rodano said. “I always emphasize that while New Jersey designates a particular week to focus on respect and bullying prevention, these conversations cannot begin within five school days.”

The faculty and staff in the district understand that children in the elementary level are still learning how to navigate emotions, relationships and conflict, and they understand that students will make mistakes. The staff works to ensure they are doing the best they can to teach and help the students.

They also do their best to distinguish a difference between incidents of peer conflict and inappropriate behavior from the state’s legal definition of HIB, as different actions on the school’s end need to be taken for HIB incidents versus other incidents.

“(However), that does not mean it should go unaddressed. When concerns are brought to our attention, we work to investigate and respond in accordance with district procedures and applicable state requirements,” Rodano said. “Our focus is always on protecting students, supporting those who have been affected, addressing inappropriate behavior and helping children develop the skills necessary to make better choices.”

At Harrison Township School District’s September Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Missy Peretti shared that the district recently completed, and has since submitted, its self-assessment under the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act for the 2025-26 school year, as required by the New Jersey Department of Education. This measures how the school and its staff handled bullying and effectively implemented the components of the anti-bullying law.

“The assessment doesn’t have anything to do with the number of actual incidents we have, but more about how we respond,” Peretti said at the meeting.

The district gave itself a score of 71 out of 78. The score “reflects it’s evaluation of how effectively these required (HIB polices and procedures, staff training, educational programming, reporting practices, investigation procedures, and the broader systems established to support a safe and respectful school environment) were implemented during the previous school year,” according to Rodano.

“From a building leadership perspective, the process is an opportunity to reflect on the work we are doing, identify areas of strength and determine where additional attention or improvement may be needed,” Rodano said. “We want to ensure that our prevention efforts are meaningful, our procedures are followed consistently and our students and families have confidence that concerns will be taken seriously.”