Manitoba Safe Schools Forum and Youth Conference 2006: Bullying and Safety Issues

1. MANITOBA SAFE SCHOOLS FORUMand YOUTH CONFERENCE 2006 We CAN Make a Difference!

2. BULLYING AND SAFETY:Issues and Interventions

3. WHAT WE KNOW • Commercial “stand and deliver” programs have limited effect • Interventions with the bully and/or victim are necessary but not sufficient for change • Bullying is societal and learned • Change must be societal, systemic to be effective

4. WHAT WE KNOW(cont’d) • Suspending students for bullying behaviour without counselling intervention increases the risk for threat and harm • 86% of Manitoba youth who indicate they are being bullied also state that they have bullied others

5. WHAT IS NEW • SCHOOL RESOURCE: -A Whole School Approach to Safety and Belonging: Preventing Violence and Bullying • PARENT RESOURCES: -Stop Bullying! -Safe, Caring Schools, Families, and Communities

6. WHAT IS NEW(cont’d) • RESOURCES: -Regional Safe Schools Forum and Youth Conferences -Information Packages -Consultation for parents, schools, and communities -Behaviour planning training sessions

7. A Whole-School Approach to Safety and Belonging Preventing Violence and Bullying

8. THEORETICALALIGNMENT • Randall Sprick • Terrance Scott • Skiba, Rausch & Ritter • Abraham Maslow • Benjamin Bloom • Lawrence Kohlberg

9. THEORETICALALIGNMENT MASLOW BLOOM KOHLBERG

10. Purpose • To promote a positive approach to safety and belonging that aligns with school planning systems already in use in Manitoba schools • To provide a simple, step-by-step approach to building collaborative safety plans • To offer materials and resources that are easily adapted to unique needs of each school

11. The Context of Bullying Three-tiered model of school discipline and violence prevention AT-RISK STUDENTS: EARLY IDENTIFICATION & INTERVENTION DISRUPTIVE STUDENTS: EFFECTIVE RESPONSES TO DISRUPTION Skiba, Rausch & Ritter(2004) TOTAL POPULATION

12. The spectrum of anti-social behaviours

13. Seven Simple Steps to Safety and Belonging • Establish a planning team • Involve parents • Involve students • Create a school pledge • Build a supervision plan • Develop a response plan • Implement and monitor the school plan

14. Step 1: Establish a Planning Team • Staff meeting item – determine commitment level to safety and belonging plan • Confirm membership on planning team • Establish timelines • Begin planning

15. Step 2: Involve Parents • Make use of parent advisory council- or related meetings and opportunities that are familiar to the community • Introduce concept and commitment levels • Ask for ideas on effective communication strategies and preferred degree of involvement with parents and community • Distribute helpful tips on supporting children

16. Step 3: Involve Students Suggestions: • Include students on planning team as much as possible (directly/indirectly depending on age/stage) • Develop a student safety and belonging committee (to provide input, feedback and communication strategy) • Students plan school assembly to launch school plan • Students contribute to pledge, to school-wide, classroom, and community activities

17. Step 3: Involve Students (cont’d) Suggestions: • Conduct a school-wide positive behaviour campaign • Encourage and support students to speak at parent meetings • Encourage and support students to speak to other students in other grades or schools • Link safety and belonging to associated learning outcomes

18. Step 4: Create a School Pledge • Determine the form the pledge will take • Invite staff, student, and parent input • Incorporate contributions into final school pledge • Align pledge with mission, code of conduct, charter, slogan, motto… • Live the pledge

19. Step 5: Build a Supervision Plan • Address violent and bullying behaviour When self-monitoring is absent in children, “the single most effective deterrent to violence and bullying is adult authority and visibility”

20. Step 5: Supervision issues • The safety of all students and staff • Each student’s ability to learn to behave in another way • The opportunity for students to practise and integrate more positive behaviour • The continuum of misbehaviour, from subtle, covert bullying to physical aggression • Adult recognition that students cannot always solve all their own problems • Adult feelings of intimidation, isolation, or lack of support when intervening in violent or bullying incidents

21. Step 5: Supervision - roles • Build a supervision plan that clearly articulates roles of: • Administrators • Teachers • Educational assistants • Support staff • Identify high-risk areas • Acknowledge and reinforce pro-social behaviour • Initiate programs to reduce opportunities for violence and bullying

22. Step 6: Develop a School-wide Response Plan • Detail guidelines and procedures for responding to and tracking incidents of violent and bullying behaviours • Identify strategies to • Support students who are bullied • Respond to students who are aggressive or who bully • Respond to students who witness violence or bullying • Plan restorative interventions to bring together all parties to repair relationships that have been damaged

23. Step 6: Goals of a School-wide Response Plan • Encourage communication • Develop empathy • Promote accountability • Enhance pro-social behaviour

24. Step 6: What does a School-wide Response Plan look like? Unique to each school All students, staff and parents are informed of the plan Safety audit conducted regularly to determine hot spots Guaranteed response to halt violence and bullying when it is witnessed • Use of incident reports; collection of data to inform plan • Use of first/second responders to intervene quickly • Code of conduct that takes into consideration the context and student-specific needs that may have contributed to the incident

25. Step 6: What does a School-wide Response Plan look like? • Guaranteed check on perpetrator, victim, and any affected witnesses • Restitution-based interventions/counselling/ opportunities for learning and practising new behaviours • Focus on pro-social behaviours

26. Step 7: Implement and Monitor the School Plan • Promote the school plan • Build and maintain commitment to the school plan: • Keep staff, students, and parents informed • Determine the format and activities for a school assembly • Determine strategies for keeping the plan alive • Determine strategies for monitoring the effectiveness of the plan

27. Begin with your Strengths • Align safety and belonging plans with strategies and systems that are already working well • Check for alignment to codes of conduct, threat assessment protocols, learning outcomes • Use familiar communication strategies: newsletters, ACSLs, student councils, assemblies, community networks…

28. Keep it Manageable A whole school approach only works when the whole school can commit to the plan: select what is manageable as a starting point. Develop additional components of the plan as students, staff and community become comfortable during the monitoring process

29. The Learning Curve • Keep in mind that any new initiative takes time and energy • Progress can be wobbly at first as everyone gets used to new concepts and new behaviours are learned • Support others • Monitor progress regularly • Celebrate successes

30. The Last Word • At first, reports of bullying will increase when you start talking about violence and bullying. This does not mean there is more bullying. You are modelling that it is okay to talk about things that are usually hidden. It means students are open to discussing issues and trust that you will help. • You can’t do this alone. It takes a community. You have a strong community.

31. For further information Lorna Martin Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth Phone: 204 945-7964 Fax: 204 945-8843 lormartin@gov.mb.ca