Olweus Bullying Prevention Program

1. Olweus Bullying Prevention Program

2. Who Am I and How Did I Get Here?

3. Overview Scott Abadie

4. Carl Joseph Walker-Hoove Carl, 11 years old, killed himself at his home on Northampton Avenue in Springfield. He hung himself with an extension cord after being bullied repeatedly at school.

5. Brandon Bitner Brandon loved to play the violin. His family says he killed himself after being bullied at school. Brandon stepped in front of a tractor trailer rig after being chastised for being a so called “emo kid”.

6. Paige Moravetz Haylee Fentress Paige and Haylee hung themselves as a suicide pact as a result of cyber bullying.

7. Natasha MacBryde Bullied to death, public schoolgirl Natasha MacBryde, 15, died after being struck by a train on the railway line near Bromsgrove. As a result of cyber bullying, Natasha laid herself on a railroad track on Valentine’s Day.

8. Rylee Morgan Abadie April, 12, 2009

9. ? How would you feel if this was a picture of someone you knew?

10. Olweus Definition of Bullying “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.”

11. Three Key Components of Bullying Behavior • Involves an aggressive behavior • Typically involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time • Imbalance of power or strength

12. Thibodaux High Anti-Bullying Pact • We will not bully others • We will try to help students who are bullied • We will try to include students who are left out • If we know that somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school or an adult at home

13. Reporting Bullying • Intervene and stop the bullying • Collect names of all involved, including any bystanders • Complete the online form and submit to a designated administrator

14. State of Our School • Safe and Supportive School Student Survey

15. 14.1 % of our students feel UNSAFE at our school (225) • 12% are members of gangs (192) • 10.6 % have been assaulted while on campus (170)

16. Harassment/Bullyingin Our School • On average 29% of our students are either being harassed or bullied during the school day. (464) • 41.7% -sexual • 21.3% - because they are different • 14.1% - bullied via the Internet

17. Scary Stats • 5.7% of our students have been threatened by a weapon at school (91) • 13% have seen a weapon being carried on campus (208) • 10.1% have actually carried a weapon on campus (161) • Less than 1% is reported.

18. Scary Stats • 15.1% of our students have seriously considered suicide (241) • 7.8 have actually attempted (124)

19. Scary Stats • 85% of school safety issues begin with bullying.

20. Scariest Stat of All • 49.6 % of our students felt as if we don’t care about them. (793) • So why would they report any problems to us?

21. Building your team… • Surround yourself with people you trust • Teachers who care about students • Teachers who have good rapport with students • Teachers who understand confidentiality

22. Approaching Bullying

23. What Should You Do When You SEE Bullying Happening? • Step 1: Stop it • Step 2: Support • Step 3: Address • Step 4: Empower • Step 5: Impose • Step 6: Follow up

24. Dialogue with Students • Intervene early • Approach student • Maintain eye contact • Be brief, clear and behavior specific • Be firm and determined • Do not make “empty threats”

25. What Should You Do When You SUSPECT Bullying Happening? • Observe & Focus • Check with colleagues for insight • Talk to or survey students (privately or individually). • Collect information and report using bullying form.

26. Consequences/Interventions

27. Bullying Reporting Form • Should be emailed to or placed in the box of a designated administrator ONLY. This helps with students getting called in more than once for the same incident if it’s being reported to multiple people.

28. Step 1: • Adminstrator and/or a designated counselor speak to the students who are bullying and are being bullied. • Recording interventions. • Students bullying others: unacceptable behavior, against school rules, it MUST stop • Student being bullied: thank you for trusting us and talking to us about the situation, we want you to feel safe, it will be taken care of • Follow up (2 to 3 days later)

29. Step 2: • If further assistance is needed, we contact the counselors. • Parental contact is made if necessary.

30. Step 3: • Administrator and/or SRO handle the situation and a “true” bullying report is filed.

31. Components

32. Categories of Bullying: • Physical • Emotional • Social

33. Types of Bullying Behavior: • Verbal • Nonverbal • Cyber

34. Warning signs: Symptoms that someone may be a target of bullying • Loss of interest in or fear of normal activity • Drop in grades • Fatigue/trouble sleeping • Depressed/moody/sad • Hopelessness/suicidal thoughts

35. Symptoms Con’t: • Aches/pains/headaches • Excessive stress/anxiety/nervousness • Skipping school frequently • Unexplained physical trauma • Anger/lashing out • Loss of solid friendships • Guilt/embarrassment/shame

36. What can teachers do? • Learn to differentiate between play and bullying behaviors. • Instill a value system in the classroom that does not tolerate bullying. • Make every child feel as if he/she has a role in stopping bullying. • Work with administration to put anti-bullying policies/pledges in place.

37. Class Meetings

38. Class meetings are designed: • To teach students about bullying. • To help students learn more about themselves and those they interact with. • To provide them opportunities to express themselves in a relatively safe and supportive environment.

39. Your role in class meetings: • Your role is more of a facilitator than teacher. • Come up with ground rules for your group • Make sure all viewpoints of all students are heard. • Allow all students a chance to speak.

40. Topic Ideas: • Team building • Gender issues in bullying • Cyber-bullying • Nonverbal communication • Friendship • Peer Pressure • Respect

41. Ways to create positive classroom management: • Make it clear you have positive expectations of students. • Project an attitude of caring, involvement, and respect. • Students are given responsibilities or jobs such as helping another student or leading a discussion.

42. Ways to create positive classroom management: • You and your students create classroom procedural rules. • Make sure all students are aware of the consequences of breaking rules. • With-it-ness – you have a continuous awareness of what is happening in all parts of the classroom.

43. Mentoring Program • Why do mentoring programs fail? • Lack of choice • Lack of trust • Not personal

44. Our Mentoring Program • Students are given freedom of choice • Mentor is someone who they trust • Mentor is someone they believe cares about them • Mentor is someone they are comfortable talking to

45. Our Mentoring Process… • All students choose their mentor (can be anyone except the counselors) • Teachers receive a list of all students that have chosen them to be their mentor • Students complete a mentor form when they feel they need to speak with their mentor. The bullying team contacts the teacher to set up a meeting with the student. • Teacher meets with the student privately and reports relevant information to the bullying committee. Situations are handled according to the school bullying procedures.

46. Things We Do Everyday… • Announcements • You Tube Videos • Classroom Meetings • Monitoring • Educating

47. Questions? • Scott Abadie • sabadie@lafourche.k12.la.us • Thibodaux High School Thibodaux, Louisiana