ESC I Bully Prevention Dr. Lorna Harrison November 29, 2012

1. ESC I Bully Prevention Dr. Lorna Harrison November 29, 2012

2. Agenda of Topics • Pervasiveness of Bullying • Types of Bullying • Bullies, Targets, By-Standers • Laws and Policies • Importance of Integrated Bully Curriculum into Daily Curriculum • Critical Components of Bullying Curricula • Hands-on Activities

3. Districts MUST be Proactive • Address student needs for safety, security and well being • Improve academic skill acquisition • Improve academic performance

4. Impacting Learning “How can you perform in school if you’re worried about getting beat up and made fun of? Violence is more than just physical; it’s verbal and very mental.” (Stephen Sroka, ass’t prof Case Western Reserve University, 2010)

5. Bullying is Pervasive • 2006-2007 = 55.5 million students PreK-12 • 79% students (ages 12-18) bullied at school during school (2007) • 21% made fun of • 18% subject of rumors • 11% pushed, shoved, tripped or spit on • 6% threatened with harm • 5% purposefully excluded • 4% tried to make do things didn’t want to do and/or property destroyed

6. Bullying is Pervasive • 2006-2007 = 5% of 55.5 million students ages 12-18 were afraid of attack or harm at school. • 2006-2007=7% of students avoided a school activity in school because of fear of attack or harm. (NCES Indicators of School Crime & Safety,2008)

7. Bullying is Pervasive • Only 38% of US students always feel safe at school and 30% rarely or never feel safe. US Dept of Health and Human Services, 2003 • One out of five children admits to being a bully. Noll & Carter,1997

8. Bullying is Pervasive • 43% of children have a fear of being harassed in the school bathroom. Noll & Carter, 1997 • Bullying can be physical or psychological. Janis Bullock, 2002

9. Bullying is Pervasive • Almost 30% of youth in the United States (or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying as either a bully, a target of bullying, or both being bullied themselves. (Safe Youth, 2009)

10. The Wrong Skill Set • Many young children who bully lack empathy, problems solving skills and learn from parents to hit back in response to problems. Vladimir and Brubach, 2000.

11. Bullying Definition (a) repeated (not just once) harm to others by hurting others’ feelings through words or by attacking and physically hurting others; • (b) it may be done by one person or by a group; • (c) it happens on the school grounds or on the way to and from school; and • (d) it is an unfair match (i.e., the person doing the bullying is physically stronger or better with words or making friends than the person being bullied . JoLynn V. Carney 2008

12. Impact of Bullying • More than 2/3 of school shootings are motivated by revenge against bullies. (Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools, US Secret Service Threat Assessment Ctr, 2000)

13. Impact of Bullying Psychological harm includes: • Drop in grades • Increased anxiety • Loss of friends • Loss of social life (Glew et al, Pediatrics in Review, June, 2000)

14. Impact of Bullying Physical harm includes: • Broken bones, bruises, cuts • SUICIDE

15. Understanding the Bully

16. Who Is the Bully? • Ironically, many are likeable • Little anxiety over consequences or potential punishment • Strong social self-esteem, but low inner self-esteem • Derive satisfaction from inflicting suffering • Defensive of action blaming the victim for provoking them

17. Who is the Bully? • Can be male and female • Little to no empathy for victims • Defiant to adults • Troubled family backgrounds/inconsistent discipline at home • Bullying role models at home

18. Who is the Bully? “…aggressive, lacking a moral compass, conflicts in relationships with parents, friends…associate with others who are bullies.” (Science Daily – March 26,2008)

19. Understanding the Target/Victim

20. Who is the Target/Victim • Anxious • Socially isolated • Physically weaker • Low self-esteem • Limited social skills and/or friends

21. Understanding the By-Stander

22. Who is the ByStander? • Sees or is aware of bully’s actions and does nothing • Encourages the bully’s behavior • Accepts the bully’s behavior • Silently supports the target/victim

23. The Bystander • 18% of ms and hs students said they’d join in their friends were bullying someone. (Whitney and Smith, 1993) • Culpable for escalation of bullying by acceptance of bullying behavior • Perpetuate bullying

24. What do kids think about telling teachers? • Telling adults will only increase bullying • Teachers never acknowledge or talk about bullying • Bullying happens where there are few teachers ( bathrooms, cafeteria, recess, bus stop)

25. Influences on Bullying Campus Culture • Limited to no policy enforcement • Weak/outdated policy • Limited outreach to parents as to campus efforts to eliminate bullying • Accepted student “peer norms” for bullying • Unlimited student technology access

26. Types of Bullying • Traditional – Direct and Indirect -Physical- pushing, hitting, stealing -Emotional-verbal attacks -Social- ostracism • New Age -Cyberbullying -Emotional/social via phones and computers

27. Cyberbullying • Cyberbullying • Sexting (practice of using cell phones to send sexually provocative photos of oneself) “Teens use texting as a part of or instead of sexual activity or a way to starting/maintaining a relationship. Photos are passed to friends for their entertainment or joke or fun,” Pew Report,2010

28. Cyberbullying Definition • Cruelty by computer (Boston Globe, 2009) • Willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices (Cyberbully Research Ctr)

29. Cyberbullying • 9% of middle schoolers reported being a victim of cyberbullying (Cyberbully Research Ctr, 2009) • Washington (state) reported increase of cyberbullying cases to be 32% of all bullying cases (2009)

30. Sexting • Sending or receiving nude or sexually suggestive photos of oneself or others via cell phone. (NSBA, 2010)

31. Lingo IS EVERYTHING HT, AFAIK, ILY- KOTL, TTFN

32. Bullying and Cyberbullying:What Can Districts Do? • “Well it happens off campus, so there’s nothing we can do. We can’t monitor them 24 hours a day.” • “We can’t help what a kid does with phone when they’re not on campus.”

33. CyberbullyingWhat should Districts do? • Specific definitions for electronic variants for harassment, intimidation, bullying • Graduated consequences and remedial actions • Procedures for reporting

34. CyberbullyingWhat should Districts do? • Explain ISP policy • Provide specific definitions for harassment, intimidation, and bullying • Encourage students to report incidents to ISP, parents, school administrators • Provide process for students to report to teachers, administrators, “safe zone” groups

35. What should districts DO? • On campus - Substantial interference with the school discipline or rights of others • Off campus – when it can be demonstrated the incident resulted in a substantial disruption of the educational environment.

36. What Should Districts Do? • Layshock v. Hermitage School District (2006) Action resulted in “ an actual disruption of the day-to-day operation” of the school, the action became punishable by the school district.

37. What Should Districts do? • Procedures for investigating incidents • Specific language if speech/behavior results in “substantial disruption of the learning environment” • Procedures for preventing cyberbullying including curriculum enhancements (Cyberbully Research Center)

38. Implications • School Board Members held accountable (S.Hadley School Committee Chair resigned-Phoebe Prince suicide) • Nationwide increase of school districts and administrators being sued (Mentor Public Schools-Ohio; Casey County Schools – Kentucky; Mohawk Central School District-New York; Georgetown ISD –Texas; Tarkington ISD – Texas; Murray County Schools - Georgia) • Increased state laws -Missouri, Florida -Florida districts must implement program or lose state funding • Parents requesting pro-active attention to bullying (Birdville ISD, Joshua ISD, South Hadley, Gonzales ISD)

39. Implications = growing Lawsuits • Georgetown ISD 2009 (bullying) • Beaumont ISD 2009 (bullying) • DeKalb Schools 2009 (11yr Jaheem Herrera’s suicide after bullying) • Sioux City Schools 2009 (bullying) • Pittsburgh Schools 2009 (bullying) • St. Ignatius (Chicago) 2009 (bullying)

40. The Unthinkable – the Death of a Child • Jon Carmichael, 13 yrs, Joshua, TX, April 1, 2010 • Tyler Long, 17 yrs, Murray County, GA, October 17, 2009 • Phoebe Prince, 15 yrs, S.Hadley, MA, January 15, 2010

41. The Unthinkable – the Death of a Child • Montana Lance, 9 yrs. Lewisville ISD, January 21, 2010 • Eric Mohat, 17 yrs, Ohio, March 27, 2007 • Meagan Meier, 13 yrs, Dardenne Prairie, MO • Lufkin ISD- suicide 2009 • Houston ISD -3rd grader jumped from 2nd floor at school -2010 - survived

42. Law & Policy • 41 states have laws on Bullying Florida -Jeff’s Law • MA wants policy to address traditional bullying and cyberbullying • Increase of statewide policies on bullying in schools • Utah State Board of Ed, “take action that will address where there has been more history of these kinds of incidents” 2009

43. Growing interest in developing policy • Develop policy for local schools requiring address traditional bullying and cyberbullying. • Schools would have to document all cases of harassment, discrimination, intimidation, bullying and report on resulting discipline.

44. Growing interest in developing policy • Michigan reviewing anti-bullying bill that would “compel” local school districts to develop plans to address and prevent bullying situations.

45. Most Recent Texas Law • HB 1942 • HB 1386 • Both effective June 17, 2100 • Mandated • Not appropriated

46. Most Recent Texas Law • HB 1942 • Requires school districts to develop polices on bullying. It adds preventing, identifying, responding to, and reporting incidents of bullying to the list of possible topics at staff development trainings.

47. Most Recent Texas Law • Texas Bullying Definition • Bullying is defined as engaging in activity on school property, at a school-related activity, or in a district-operated vehicle that physically harms the student, damages the student’s property, or places the student in reasonable fear of such personal harm or damage. More…..

48. Most Recent Texas Law Definition continued; • Behavior is bullying if it is severe, persistent, and pervasive enough to create an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the student, exploit an imbalance of power between the perpetrator and the victim, and interfere with a student’s education or substantially disrupt the operation of a school.

49. Most Recent Texas Law School board policy MUST: • Prohibits retaliation against anyone who provides information on an incident of bullying, including a victim or witness; • Establishes a procedure to notify a parent of the victim and the bully within a reasonable time after the incident;

50. Most Recent Texas Law • Establishes how a student can obtain assistance in response to bullying; • Sets out the available counseling options for a student who experiences or witnesses bullying or engages in bullying;