Posts Tagged ‘anti-bullying’
Anti-bullying Programs
This story from Kansas City infozine.com:
“Evidence demonstrating the long-term effects of bullying combined with high-profile incidents of school violence have led to greater support for anti-bullying initiatives. More than three-quarters of elementary and middle schools participated in anti-bullying programs in 2006, according to the National School Boards Association.
Anti-bullying efforts have focused primarily on prevention through character education programs. Rona C. Kaufman said she began infusing character education into Hannah Penn Middle School in York, Pa., soon after becoming principal in 2003.
The in-school suspension room was converted into a character education room, in which a teacher and students work together to improve attitudes. This often focuses on discussing and analyzing neighborhood problems. All students received lessons in ethical decision making and proper manners.
A curriculum focused on social and emotional development also boosts students’ academic success, Poland said.
Many speakers emphasized the need to put students at the forefront of any anti-bullying campaign. Students generally know who the bullies are and where the bullying occurs, Poland said.
Jacquelyn Andrews, 16, a junior at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J., developed a 180-hour anti-bullying program for grades three to eight that includes activities such as drawing and writing picture books about how to form alliances against bullies. Andrews is the daughter of Rep. Robert E. Andrews, D-N.J.
And Cassady Tetsworth, 17, a senior at Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro, N.C., and is a youth advisory board member for Students Against Violence Everywhere, said her chapter role-plays bullying situations so students know how to respond when somebody else is being bullied.
Kaufman’s efforts at character education have had a dramatic impact. Discipline referrals at Hannah Penn fell nearly two-thirds during the 2007-2008 school year, vandalism had virtually disappeared and there were fewer reports of bullying.”
(Click here for complete story.)
SchoolTipline applauds these students and schools for taking the initiative and creating anti-bullying programs.
SchoolTipline agrees that it is the involvement of students that will make an anti-bullying program successful. With the new school year approaching there needs to be an increased effort going toward these programs to help increase school safety for the new school year.
Thurgood Marshall students create anti-bullying mural.
Thurgood Marshall Middle School students in front of the mural.
Middle-school students at Thurgood Marshall Middle School completed a mural in the style of artist Keith Haring to illustrate the importance of respect in the school community.
The project was in response to an anti-bullying assembly that took place in the spring at the school, which is a regional, public magnet school that is affiliated with Six to Six Magnet School.
David Weitzman, a social worker at Frenchtown Elementary School in Trumbull, had visited Thurgood Marshall students to discuss his experience working in the New York City Public School System.
To address violence in New York City schools, Weitzman conceived a project to create and paint murals in the hallways of schools that promote peace, understanding, respect and love. After the project was completed, the school system noted a significant decrease in violence on school property.
In the Bridgeport mural, the theme “Respect is learned, earned and then returned” is illustrated in three frames.
It is important to teach children at an early age to respect other students. Thurgood Marshal Middle School is an example of how parents, teachers and kids work together to stop bullying. The mural will remind students to be courteous and respectful to others.
Bullying is a serious issue that affects not only the children who are bullied, but family members who see the victim suffer from the abuse.
SchoolTipline applauds Thurgood Marshall school administrators for taking the initiative to include children in this project.
Schools Work to Prevent Bullying
Duggan Middle School students show their anti-bullying contracts.
This story from The Republican:
“School officials and staff wish they could bottle the wherewithal of students like Nelson Alicea and dispense it in the aftermath of a sixth-grader’s suicide that his mother blamed on relentless bullying by classmates. Instead, they say, they hope anti-bullying programs are enough to alert students to the pain which daily doses of being told they’re different can inflict on young, and often fragile, minds.
They’re shocked that anyone at that age could have it get that far,” said Anne M. Kelleher, a seventh-grade English teacher. She and eighth-grade teacher Karina L. Monroe had their students write essays in the form of anti-bullying contracts and poetry about Carl.
Sadiyyah M. Muhammad, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Duggan, sees bullying only occasionally and also says she hasn’t been a target. But Carl’s suicide showed how important it is for students to feel comfortable enough in a school to talk about things with teachers or other adults, she said.
“We investigate, no matter how minor it may appear on the surface,” said Gloria B. Williams, principal of Freedman Elementary School.
Despite that, Dwyer is among parents who aren’t happy with the School Department. She said she contacted Glickman Elementary School because other students have grabbed her son, thrown pencils at him and called him a loser. The problems began last year, she said. ”
(Click Here for Complete Story)
SchoolTipline applauds all efforts to help prevent bullying. However, we agree with Dwyer that some actions are not enough. For an anti-bullying program to be successful students need to be more proactive.
SchoolTipline offers a way for students to become involved in preventing bullying and to feel comfortable reporting cases of bullying to administrators.
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