Creating School Cultures of Health, Safety and Respect

1. Creating School Cultures of Health, Safety and Respect A presentation for Staff & Faculty September 2009

2. Department’s Student Priority:Safety & Well-being • 1o f 3 student priorities • Our mission: • Ensure we exemplify the healthy, safe, and respectful teaching and learning environments where all student diversities are honored and valued. • Safety & well-being prerequisite to student academic and social success • Establish compassionate and rigorous learning environments • Students need to feel safe & secure to maximize their growth potentials in risk-free environments

3. Our School’s Investment in Prevention • Insert copy of your school’s behavioral expectations matrix or core ethical values • Appropriate student behaviors are modeled by adults on campus and • Acknowledged by adults and students • Our goal is to provide 6 positives to 1 negative in recognizing appropriate behaviors

4. Increased Attention to BullyingNational Data • 15, 686 students 6th-10th graders (Nansel, 2003) • 19% had engaged in bullying behaviors • 17% had been victims • 6% had been both victims & bullier • Increasing number reporting being both • Occurs most frequently from grade 6 to 8 • Males more than females are bullies & victims • Males more physically bullied • Females more verbally or psychologically bullied

5. National DataSecret Service & US DOE Research • Report on 37 shootings including Columbine • ¾ of student shooters felt bullied, threatened, attacked or injured by others • Columbine shooters bullied others • Several shooters reported experienced long-term & severe bullying and harassment from peers

6. Is bullying a problem in Hawaii schools? 2007 Youth Behavioral Risk Survey • 2 in 3 middle school students in Hawaii say bullying is a problem • 1 in 2 high school students in Hawaii say bullying is a problem

7. Is bullying & harassment a problem?

8. When Bullying Happens . . . Bully All in the triangle are impacted. Any bullying prevention/intervention program must address all three groups. Victim/Target Bystander

9. Sometimes Hard To Detect • Teasing, hitting, pushing can be playful or bullying • Takes place in areas not well supervised by adults • e.g., schools, homes, or communities • Maybe subtle such as: social exclusion, note-passing, threatening looks • Many students don't report, fear: • Retaliation by student doing the bullying • Adults won't take concerns seriously or will act inappropriate in dealing with incident

10. Myth #1 About Bullying • Bullying is same thing as conflict. • Bullying = • Aggressive behavior, imbalance of power, often repeated over time • Student has hard time defending him/herself • Conflict = • Antagonism among 2 or more people • Conflict resolution or mediation sometimes misused to solve bullying • Inappropriate message – both are partly right and partly wrong • Appropriate message for child who is bullied: • “Bullying is wrong and no one deserves to be bullied. We are going to do everything we can to stop it.”

11. Myth #2 About Bullying • Most bullying is physical, i.e., hitting, shoving, kicking. • Most common bullying = Verbal bullying • Name calling, rumor spreading, etc. • Also common = Bully via Social Isolation • Shunning, leaving one out on purpose

12. Myth #3 About Bullying • Bullying isn’t serious. It’s just a matter of “kids being kids.” • Bullying extremely serious • Affects mental well being, academic work & physical health of those targeted • Victims • Lower self-esteem, higher rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety, & suicidal thoughts • More likely avoid school, have higher absenteeism • Students who bully • More likely engage in other antisocial, violent or troubling behaviors • Bystanders • Observing incident also be impacted negatively

13. Myth #4 About Bullying • Bullied kids need to learn how to deal with bullying on their own. • Many do not have confidence & skills to stop bullying when it happens • Should not expect students to deal with bullying on their own • Adults play critical roles in helping to stop bullying

14. Chapter 19 2009 Definition • “Bullying” means any written, verbal, graphic, or physical act that a student or group of students exhibits toward other particular student(s) and the behavior causes mental or physical harm to the other student(s); and is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student(s).

15. Impact of Bullying & Harassment • Harmful effects well documented in research literature • Ranges from feelings of: • Shame, fear, loneliness, anger, low self-esteem to decline in academic performance, avoidance of certain places, ostracized by peers, to escalation of overt violence on campus

16. “Two minutes of bullying can last a lifetime.” • 11 year old male, 5th grade student • I get called “gay” everyday in the classroom • “I want to kill myself. I can’t take it anymore.” • Student is outcast & his peers will not touch anything he has prior contact with. • Has reported to teacher, counselor, and vice principal, but met with ambivalence. • Teachers describe student as “enigma” implying there is little school can do about his inherently provocative personality.

17. “Two minutes of bullying can last a lifetime.” • 16 year old girl moved from foreign country to Hawaii • Small group of boys would mock her and mimic her accent every time she stood in front of the class to recite or give a report • Over time, she decided never to say another word in class • As result, began to fail in class • She noted sadly that teacher never intervened even once to stop the harassment & sometimes smiled when the boys made fun of her

18. “Two minutes of bullying can last a lifetime.” • 25-year old tearfully recalls anguish felt as overweight child in elementary school • Kids called her “the Whale” • She tried very hard to get to stop by bringing students presents • But they continued to tease her • Eventually became very isolated & ate lunch in the bathroom • Became anorexic over the summer • At school they called her “anorexic bitch” • Yet, no teacher intervened and tried to help her • Today she remains severely eating disordered

19. Types of Bullying • Physical • Verbal • Relational • Social isolation • Sexual (harassment) • Cyberbullying Horne and Orpinas, 2007

20. What Rewards Bullying Behavior? • Most common • Attention from bystanders • Attention and reaction of victim • Access to resources (materials, activities) • Self –delivered reward

21. Creating Programs That Work • Most effective strategy: “The entire school as a community to change the climate of the school and the norms of behavior.”

22. Effective Bullying Prevention Program: Establish . . . • CLEAR school-wide message that bullying is unacceptable • Positive school climate and implement school-wide rules against bullying • Incorporate BOE 2109 Character Policy into grade curricula • Commitment from all students, parents, and staff that they are part of the anti-bullying solution. • Train all school personnel how to prevent and intervene when they witness bullying

23. Because We Care About You . . .

24. Teach All Students . . .3 STEP ProcessHow To STOP Something You Don’t Like • “Stop” • Teach students the schoolwide “stop signal” • Model when experience problem behavior • Practice often with student volunteers • Walk away • Sometimes even when indicate “stop”, problem behavior will continue • If this happens, students are to “walk away” from problem • Practice “walking away” with student volunteers in class • Talk: Report problems to an adult • If “stop” & “walk away” does not work, students should “talk” to an adult • Model and practice the “talk” technique

25. However, if in DANGER . . . • If any student is in danger, “stop” and “walk” steps should be skipped, and the incident should be reported immediately.

26. Where Is The Line Between Tattling And Reporting? • "Talking"is when you have tried to solve the problem yourself, and have used the "stop" and “walk" steps first • “Tattling”is when you do not use the "stop" and "walk away" steps before "talking" to an adult • Tattling is when your goal is to get the other person in trouble

27. Practice Strategies with Students • Students who often are verbally, physically aggressive: • Pre-correction • On-site practice • Students who often are Victims: • Extra teaching about what might be reinforcing • Pre-correction • On-site practice • Bystanders • Teach 3 step process • Teach not to reinforce problem behavior • Otherwise bulliers will gain peer attention/objects for inappropriate behavior

28. Other Prevention Strategies • Be visible and vigilant (in hallways, cafeterias, playground…). Increase/improve supervision in areas where bullying tends to occur • Weave bullying awareness into the curriculum • Be aware of seating arrangements

29. Other Prevention Strategies • Meet the needs of individual students • Create an “open-door policy” for students • Inform parents about bullying prevention efforts • Articles about bullying prevention in school newsletter

30. Reflection . . . • Think about a time when you were truly respected. • How can we create those feelings of being respected in our classrooms and school? • Share 3-5 specific ways

31. Thank you for being Proactive and Committed!

32. Table Talk • What are possible actions we should continue or initiate as a whole school regarding prevention of bullying and harassment? • As classroom teachers and staff? • What activities should we initiate/maintain with our school community regarding bullying and harassment?