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“Providing a safe environment for our students is part of our responsibility as educators, and that includes giving children the skills to help others.” Diana Borth believes deeply in the value of bullying prevention programs and has been a key player in implementing such a program in the Verona Area School District this year.
 Verona teacher Diana Borth, left, believes deeply in the importance of teaching all students about bullying prevention. She and the staff at Badger Ridge Middle School work with all students to empower them to stand up to bullies. Pictured in back, from left, are students Dierre Crayton and Bob Kusch. In front are Bailey Kundinger and Malia Hansen. |
Across the state, educators like Borth are singing the praises of prevention programs because they know that students learn best in safe, secure facilities.
It’s important because the more students know about bullying, the better equipped they are to stop it in its tracks, Borth said.
The importance of bullying prevention was underscored with the release of the latest Youth Risk Behaviors Survey in March. One out of five Wisconsin High School students surveyed reported that they were being bullied and harassed, sometimes physically at school.
WEAC and the NEA have long been advocates of comprehensive bullying prevention programs, as well as peer mediation programs. The hope is to add Wisconsin to the list of 32 states in the nation that require the programs to be implemented in schools.
At hearings of the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly education committees this winter, legislators heard first-hand from those who have seen the personal devastation bullying can cause. Among those testifying was a mother, holding a picture of her 16-year-old son who took his own life as a result of bullying.
“A bully thrives on the silence of others,” she said. “No parent should be worried that their child will be bullied when they go to school. I didn’t know there was a bullying prevention policy in the school. There was no substance to it.”
Shel Gross, director of public policy for Mental Health America of Wisconsin, also underscored the serious implications bullying can have. He said some people dismiss bullying as a problem, remembering back to their own days in the schoolyard. “They will say, ‘All kids do it,” Gross said. “Well, it wasn’t OK then, and it’s not OK now.”
While Senate Bill 42 was passed in the Senate in February, the bill was not brought to the floor of the Assembly for a vote before the end of the regular legislative session. The requirement of bullying prevention and peer mediation programs in our schools has been a WEAC legislative agenda item since 2000.
Jon Hisgen, health and physical education consultant at the state Department of Public Instruction, has seen bullying from many vantage points throughout his life: from childhood, to his 25 years as a teacher in the Pewaukee School District, to his current role as lead writer of the DPI’s comprehensive bullying prevention program.
Instruction in bullying prevention reaps important benefits, including:
• Promoting positive and caring relationships among students, staff, parents and communities;
• Raising awareness of the problem; and
• Promoting a sense of belonging and acceptance in students.
Check out these links for bullying prevention information and resources: DPI Bullying Prevention Curriculum Guides NEA Resources: National Crime Prevention Council Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: |
The DPI bullying prevention curriculum has been available for 13 months, Hisgen said, and more than 250 schools are already using it. The DPI model bullying prevention policy and guidelines, along with many other resources, are designed to be a low-cost, efficient way for schools to address the bullying problem.
While many schools recognize the importance of raising awareness around bullying at the middle school level, Hisgen said elementary-level education should not be overlooked. “All the research says the programs should be started at 3rd grade,” he said, adding that the DPI offers resources at both levels, along with pre-tests and post-tests for districts to evaluate the impact of the programs in their own schools. There are supporting books, including a new publication due out this summer called “I’m Sorry” which will focus on what a bully can do to make amends.
“What we intended to do is to develop a program that was low cost, engaging, that we know works, and is ‘Wisconsinized,’” Hisgen said.
“We remember who the bullies were when we were kids and we remember what they did to us,” Hisgen said. “In fact, bullying is always listed as one of the top three social or emotional barriers to learning, so obviously it’s a problem. Some schools will argue it’s the biggest problem.”
Posted March 28, 2008