BULLYING Prevention: Getting on the Right Track Iredell-Statesville Schools

BULLYING Prevention:Getting on the Right Track

Iredell-Statesville Schools

Consensogram

How much do you know about bullying and what to do about it?

TMS

Without safe schools, it is difficult, if not impossiblefor learning to take place…

Ronald D. Stephens, Ed.D.Executive Director

National School Safety Center

Bullying Prevention Agenda

Review/Identify requirements of Senate Bill 526 Define what bullying and cite age appropriate examples for

each type Discuss strategies to prevent bullying behavior within your

school Discuss Intervention Strategies when bullying occurs Review contents of the ISS Bullying Policy Define how, when, why staff will communicate bullying issues

to parents Define School-Wide plan for educating all students on Bullying

Policy Provide activities/instructional ideas for teaching students

Senate Bill 526

States schools “shall develop and implement methods and strategies for promoting school environments that are free of bullying or harassing behavior.”

Defines bullying and harassment Mandates schools to have a policy against bullying or

harassing behavior Mandates information regarding this policy shall be

incorporated into a school’s employee training program.

Activity #1: Bullying Quiz

Answer the following bullying quiz questions with your

Team

Exploring the Nature and Prevention of BullyingBullying Quiz

(http://www.k12coordinator.org/onlinece/onlineevents/bullying/bullying_quiz.htm)

Bullying Quiz

1. Bullying is just a part of growing up. The effects of bullying on victims are short-term and minor.a) True b) False

2. Bullying is not a serious problem for the bullies; they eventually grow out of this behavior.a) True b) False

3. Most bullying occurs in high school because older students are more confident and willing to pick on others. a) Trueb) False

4. Bullying is usually verbal, not physical, in nature.a) Trueb) False

Bullying Quiz

5 . Bu ll i e s a re u s u a lly in s e c u re lo n e rs with lo w s e lf -e s te e m .a) Trueb) False

6 . Bu lly in g is a lm o s t e x c l u s iv e ly m a le b e h a v io r.a) Trueb) False

7 . Bu ll i e s d o n ’t u s u a lly p i c k o n p a s s iv e s tu d e n ts ; in s te a d , th e y b u lly in re s p o n s e to s o m e s o rt o f p ro v o c a tio n f ro m th e i r v ic ti m s .a) Trueb) False

8 . A b u lly u s u a lly a tta c k s wh e n n o o n e e ls e is wa tc h in g .a) Trueb) False

Bullying Quiz

9. Most bullying happens at school.a) Trueb) False

10. Targets of bullies tend to be children with physical differences.a) Trueb) False

11. If students would just fight back, then bullies would leave them alone.a) Trueb) False

12. Hanging out with other students increases the risks of being bullied since there are more people for bullies to target. a) Trueb) False

Why Educators Should be Concerned

State of North Carolina is concerned:– Center for the Prevention of School Violence

defines school violence as “any behavior that violates a school’s educational mission or climate of respect or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions, and disorder.”

– NC Safe Schools Initiative recognizes that bullying prevention is crime prevention.

www.djjdp.org

Bullying and ISS

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

High Student

Performance

Healthy, SafeOrderly

and Caring Schools

Quality Teachers,

Administration and Staff

Strong Family, Community

and Business Support

Effective and Efficient

Operations

State Goal 2.2ISS Goal 2.2.1:

Schools Free of all harmful behavior and lowest rate of crime

Healthy, Safe, Orderly and Caring

State Goals:– Learning environments inviting and

supportive of high student performance – Schools free of controlled and illegal

substances and all harmful behavior – Adequate, safe education facilities that

support high student performance

Bullying Prevention

Safe and Inviting

Learning Environment

Safe and Inviting

Learning Environment

Increase inStakeholderSatisfaction

Increase inStakeholderSatisfaction

DecreaseCrime

Incidents

DecreaseCrime

Incidents

Increase Attendance

Increase Attendance

BULLYING PREVENTION

BULLYING PREVENTION

Bullying: Some Disturbing Data

Of 41 school shooters studies by the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education, two-thirds felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured before the school shooting, with many having been the victims of “longstanding and severe bullying and harassment.”

(www.gothamgazette.com/pring/1416)


A 2001 study of students in 8th through 11th grades by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation found that “four of five students – boys and girls – report that they have experienced some type of sexual harassment at school”



A Los Angeles study of 192 sixth-graders concluded that almost half had been bullied at least once during a five-day period.


Bullying and the Workplace

Workplace bullying - in any form - is bad for business. It destroys teamwork, commitment and morale." Tony Morgan, Chief Executive, The Industrial Society

Consider the effect of bullying in group-centered work at school.

Bullying Defined

Double I-R Criteria:– Intentional

– Imbalanced

– Repeated

Bullying Defined

Bullying is INTENTIONAL:

deliberatehurtfulpurposefulinstrumentalgoal-directed

Bullying Defined

Bullying is IMBALANCED:

physical vs. psychological

actual vs. perceived

Power Imbalance

“A power imbalance is found at the heart of the bullying dynamic. A student who is stronger, more aggressive, bolder, and more confident than average typically bullies other students who are weaker, more timid, and who tend not to retaliate or act in an assertive manner.”

(Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System)

Bullying Defined

Bullying is REPEATED:

one-time aggression vs. bullying

Bullying Defined

Bullying involves a desire to hurt + hurtful action + a power imbalance + (typically) repetition + an unjust use of power + evident enjoyment by the aggressor and a sense of being oppressed on the part of the victim.

http://www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying/define.html

Bullying Defined

“A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students… It is a negative action when someone intentionally inflicts, or attempts to inflict injury or discomfort on another.”

Olweus, 1994, p. 1173

Bullying Behavior: 4 Categories

Physical

Verbal

Social/Relational

Sexual Harassment


1. PHYSICAL BULLYING

Can leave marks on the body


2. VERBAL BULLYING

Can be heard by the target


3. SOCIAL/RELATIONAL BULLYING

Indirect, covert attempts to affect the target’s reputation or social standing

The old-fashioned way


3. SOCIAL/RELATIONAL BULLYING

Indirect, covert attempts to affect the target’s reputation or social standing

The newest, most advanced way to bully

Cyberbullying

“Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages,

instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated,

and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intendedto harm others.”

-- Bill Belsey(www.cyberbullying.ca/main_frame.html)

Cyberbullying: An ethical Impact

Why is this so dangerous?“The anonymity of online communications means kids

feel freer to do things online they would never do in the real world. Even if they can be identified online, young people can accuse someone else of using their screen name. They don’t have to own their actions, and if a person can’t be identified with and action, fear of punishment is diminished.”

(www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_resources/wa_shar)


4. SEXUAL HARASSMENT

(SH) - Any repeated, unwanted behavior of a sexual nature perpetrated upon one individual by another. Sexual harassment may be verbal, visual, written, or physical. It can occur between people of different genders or those of the same sex. Harassing behaviors may occur in a variety of relationships including those among peers, and those where there is an imbalance of power between two individuals. The law is primarily concerned with the impact of the behavior, not the intent. In other words, the law is concerned with how the person on the receiving end is affected by the behavior, not with what the other person means by the behavior.

http://www.turnaroundinc.org/pages/facts/glossary.html

Bias Incidents/Hate Crimes

Bias incidents are any acts directed against people or property that are motivated by prejudice based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, social affiliation, ability or appearance.

Responding to Hate at School Tolerance Magazine, 1999

Gender Differences and Bullying

GIRLS:

Bully within social group

Covert

Emphasis on verbal and social/relational bullying

Gender Differences and Bullying

BOYS: Bully outside social

group Direct More likely to use

physical aggression

Activity #2: Scenario Review

With your Teacher-training Team, read the scenario at your table and determine:– Is this an example of bullying? If so, answer the

following: Determine how you know the act was intentional. What is/are the imbalance(s)? What clues indicate this is repetitive behavior?

Bullying is…

Peer Abuse

An Act of Violence

Precursor to Escalated Acts of Violence and Crime

Serial Abuse

Activity #3: A Continuum

Rank the bullying behaviors contained in the packet on a continuum from low to high

severity

Continuum Scale

Statistics

285,000 students are physically attacked each month

160,000 children miss school each day because of fear

70% of students have been bullied during their academic career

14% of students believe that bullying has a severe impact on their lives

Prevalence

15% of students in schools involved 9% are targets 7% bully others repeatedly More victims in younger grades are

victimized Boys are more likely to bully than girls

(Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System)

List of Facts

80% of adolescents reported being bullied during their school years

90% of 4th through 8th graders report being targets of bullying

15% of students bully regularly or are targets of bullying

Up to 7% of 8th grade students stay home at least once a month because of bullies

http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/against/bullying.html

List of Facts

Bullies identified by age eight are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by age twenty-four and five times more likely than non-bullies to end up with serious criminal records by the age of thirty.

Students reported that 71% of the teachers or other adults in the classroom ignored bullying incidents.


List of Facts

When asked students uniformly expressed the desire that teachers intervene rather than ignore teasing and bullying.

Aggressive behavior is learned early and becomes resistant to change if it persists beyond age eight.

Bullying most often occurs at school where there is minimal or no supervision.


List of Facts

Most bullying is verbal. Bullying begins in elementary school, peaks in

middle school, diminishes but does not disappear in high school.

Both boys and girls bully, usually same sex classmates, with female bullying taking indirect, manipulative forms.

Bullying can have devastating long term effects on the targets.


Long-Term Effects of New York Study

Little Bullies grow up to be Adult Bullies:

Males: More likely to become spousal abusersFemales: More likely to abuse their own children

Increased prevalence of workplace bullying

Did You Know?

By 6 weeks into the school year, the bully-target patterns have been established.

Physical bullying increases through the elementary years and peaks in middle school. Thereafter, incidents decrease with age.

Verbal bullying occurs throughout school years. Children do not tell on bullies because they are afraid

it will get worse. They feel no one can help them if they do.

(From Bullying Behaviors: A Systemic Perspective Powerpoint Presentation Dr. Andy Horne, University of Georgia, April 2005)

Movie:

Reality Matters: Cruel Schools: Bullying and Violencewww.unitedstreaming.com

What Can Schools Do to Help?

“While approaches that simply crack down on individual bullies are seldom effective, when there is school-wide commitment to end bullying, it can be reduced up to 50%.”

(www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/bullying.asp)

Prevention Basics

Solution-focused approach – Define the problem and develop strategies to

solve the problem – strength, ownership, competency, empowerment, coaching

Develop Positive School Climate:– Increase rapport with students – Establish positive, respectful climate

Family/School Risk Factors

Family– Lack of supervision– Lack of attachment– Negative relationship– Lack of

discipline/consequence– Support for violence

School– Lack of supervision– Lack of attachment– Negative relationship– Lack of

discipline/consequence– Support for violence– Lack of alternatives to

violence(From Bullying Behaviors: A Systemic Perspective Powerpoint Presentation Dr. Andy Horne, University of Georgia, April 2005)

Teacher Beliefs that Reduce Bullying

“Students are situational learners and adapt to learning at home and school differently.”

“If I provide the opportunity to learn positive behaviors, they can learn and maybe transfer those to home.”

“Bullying really is more likely to happen at school.” “Not all bullies use physical force.” “Being mean, teasing, and shunning behaviors are

alternate forms of bullying.”


Teacher Activities that Maintain or Reduce Victimization

Maintain– Many ignore

victimization– Don’t intervene unless

problem is significant– Blame the victim– Focus only on

extinguishing– Support victim only the

immediate aftermath

Reduce– Demonstrate awareness– Take action at all levels– Teach how not to be

good targets– Provide follow-up

support


When we notice it happening…

Senate Bill 526 states a school employee, student, or volunteer who has witnessed or has reliable information that a student or employee has been subject to any act of bullying or harassing behavior shall report the incident to the appropriate school official. (ISS defines school official as an Administrator)

Bullying Consequence Matrix

•Review Consequences Matrix

Elementary

Middle

High

Commitment

(http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/)

“Take sides.Neutrality helps the oppressor,

never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” -Elie Wiesel

Procedures for Reporting-

REVIEW Policy Code: 4021

Develop a District & School-wide Agenda

Training Assessment – bullying survey/map Data Analysis: Healthy, Safe, Orderly & Caring

Committee Proactive Prevention basics

– Teach expectations– Model positive, consistent behavior– Visual displays (posters, criteria, etc)– Enforce policy

Intervention Strategies

Identify Scope of the Problem

School-wide assessment – Bullying survey to all students after training

Anonymous but color-coded for grade level identification

3 components (true/false, map/bus, open-ended)You may choose to stagger the training by grade

level so that analysis is more manageableEmpty map for students to identify places where

bullying takes place in your school

Assessment

3 days of training (30 minutes each day)– Scripted lessons for teachers

Day 1: Definitions and ClarificationDay 2: Scenario Review: Double I-R in practiceDay 3: Tattling/Reporting, Long-term effects of

bullying, Role of the bystander, Reporting informationDay 4: Give Assessment/Map

DATA TO BE GIVEN TO HEALTHY, SAFE, ORDERLY

& CARING COMMITTEE

Day 1: Bullying Agenda

Highlights: Students’ definitions of bullying Textbook definitions of bullying Differentiation between bullying and

horseplay/teasing Double I-R Criteria 4 Categories of bullying behavior


Review of Double I-R Criteria Review of 4 Categories of Bullying Behavior Double I-R Criteria in practice (scenarios)


Difference between Tattling & Reporting Information Discussion of long-term effects of bullying behavior

on: Bully

TargetWitnesses

Role of the bystander (85% caring majority) How to report information

Day 4: Bullying Survey: Component 1

Bullying Survey: Component 1Answer the following True/False statements. Select either T or F. I can easily tell the difference between bullying and horseplay-teasing. I feel safe at our school. I believe that there are clear and consistent consequences for physical bullying at our

school. I believe that there are clear and consistent consequences for verbal bullying at our

school. I believe that there are clear and consistent consequences for social/relational bullying

at our school. I believe that there are clear and consistent consequences for sexual harassment at our

school. I understand the difference between telling/tattling and reporting information to an adult. I believe bystanders have a lot of power to reduce bullying behavior at our school by

reporting incidents to an appropriate adult. I believe I can help reduce bullying behavior at our school. I believe teachers, counselors, SAP, and administration react appropriately to information

that I report about bullying.


Bullying Survey: Component 2

See the attached map of our school. Please identify where bullying behavior most frequently occurs by marking an “x” in the

locations on the map.

If bullying occurs frequently on your school bus, please write the bus number on the picture of the bus.


Bullying Survey: Component 31. Who consistently displays bullying behavior at our school? Identify these people by first

and last name.

2. Do you know of any students who are specifically being targeted/victimized by bullying behavior? Name them:

3. What is the most common form of bullying behavior at our school? Rate them from highest/most common (1) to lowest/least common (4): Physical: _____

Verbal: _____Social/Relational: _____Sexual Harassment: _____

4. What ideas/strategies/activities should be used to combat bullying at our school? Be specific.

5. What can the adults at our school do better to reduce bullying behavior? Provide solutions.

Analysis of Assessment Data:Safe, Healthy, Caring Committee

What did the data reveal? What relevant data might be missing? Are there unanswered questions?

You’ve got the tools to act!

For Additional Information

Safeguarding our Children: An Action Guide – www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/ActionGuide

2000 Annual Report on School Safety & Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000

– www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS

Newman-Carlson, D., Horne, A.M, Bartolomucci, C.L. (2000). Bully Busters: A Teacher’s manual for helping bullies, victims, and bystanders. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

Documents

BULLYING Prevention: Getting on the Right Track Iredell-Statesville Schools