This morning our students and staff at
West Genesee Middle School had an incredible experience coming together to
kick-off the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program in our building as part of the larger
district-wide initiative to implement this program. The half-day event included our first series
of classroom meetings in homeroom and a large assembly in the gym. The focus of
this initial event was on defining what bullying behavior is, explaining the
roles that students play in bullying situations (it isn’t just about the
student who bullies and the student who is being bullied), and establishing and
discussing the four building (and district) rules associated with bullying.
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| Students Performing Bully-Circle Skit |
To say that today’s event went well
would be an enormous understatement. Today was spectacular! We couldn’t be more
proud of our students in terms of how they handled themselves, how they
listened to and respected the views of others, and what amazing attention they
gave to some very serious and important topics.
As we move forward from today it is
important that all of us are speaking the same language, both here at school and
at home. Bullying behavior is defined as:
“Bullying is when someone repeatedly and on
purpose says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a
hard time defending himself or herself.” Every negative situation that may happen at school, on the bus, or at
home may not be bullying. But, if it is on purpose,
is repeated, and involves an imbalance of power then
it is bullying.
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| Our own Wildcat mascot taking part in a "Trust Run" |
The rules that we introduced
and began to discuss today are as follows:
1. We will not bully
others
2. We will try to help
students who are bullied
3. We will include
students who are easily left out
4. When we know
somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at
home.
The rules apply to us all.
As adults we have a powerful influence over our young people in terms of how we
interact with them and how we interact with one another. The major shift that needs to occur in
bullying situations is moving people from their roles in the bullying circle
away from the student who bullies to the student who is being bullied. This
shift will take time, effort, and education to empower students and help give
them the tools and resources necessary to put this into practice.
One the most important
messages of the day was that we all have a personal responsibility in all
situations we are either involved in or witness. It isn’t about what another student
said, or what others were doing; it’s about me as an individual. What did I do
or say? What didn’t I do or say? I encourage you to talk with your child or
children about bullying, the rules mentioned above, and the role that we all
play in different situations, just as I will discuss these things with my own
children.
I was inspired by the honesty, enthusiasm, and maturity that our students demonstrated today. You should all be very proud. Our next classroom meeting is Tuesday, October 16th and we will continue to push on.
Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
