Transcript Slide 1
The ABC’s of Bullying OUR MISSION Our mission at Robert E. Fitch High School is to educate our students to become outstanding citizens equipped with 21st century learning skills. The faculty and staff collaborate with home and community to promote academic excellence, personal wellness, and social awareness. We guide students into deeper cognitive awareness and increased levels of understanding, and we encourage our students to use their individual talents to their fullest potential. Our graduates are informed, responsible adults who respect diversity and value life-long learning. Educate about bullying Address bullying Prevent bullying Bullying is repeated aggressive behavior that is intended to cause harm or distress in a relationship in which there is an imbalance of power or strength. Physical—Harmful actions against another person’s body. Biting Tripping Kicking Pulling Hair Pushing Hitting Pinching Verbal—Speaking to/about a person in an unkind or hurtful way. Sarcasm Teasing Name-Calling Put-Downs Phone Calls Hurtful Gossip Spreading Rumors Emotional—Upsetting, excluding or embarrassing a person. Intentional Exclusion Nasty Notes Tormenting Threatening Humiliation Social Embarrassment CYBERBULLYING Sexual—Singles out a person because of gender and/or sexual orientation and demonstrates unwarranted/unwelcome sexual behavior. Sexual Comments Abusive Comments Unwanted Physical Contact Racial—Involves rejection or isolation of a person because of ethnicity. Gestures Racial Slurs Taunts Name-Calling Making fun of: customs, skin color, accent and/or food choices Bully: •One or more persons who intentionally intimidate or harm another person. •A bully has power or social support. The harm they cause can be physical, emotional or both. Victim: •The person who is being bullied. •The victim has less power or social support and often blames him/herself for the abuse. Bystander: •One or more people who stand on the sidelines and passively witness acts of bullying—bystanders might also actively provide encouragement and support to the bully. •Bystanders may not seek help/intervene because they fear for their safety, may lose friends, become a target or be labeled a tattletale or snitch. Bullying can be related to hostile acts perpetrated against racial and ethnic minorities, gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual youth, and persons with disabilities. This definition is taken from the American Psychological Association Cyberbullying A Troubling Trend… Cyberbullying Definition: “The willful and repeated harm influenced through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” Traditional Bullying Cyberbullying Witnesses usually limited to those who are actually there. In front of the whole world. Face-to-face with the bully. Usually anonymous. Adults jump in to break things up. Lack of supervision in cyber space. Once home the victim is safe. 24/7 on the internet. No escape. Once victim walks away the Lack of Closure. bullying ends. Cyberbullying examples… Sending mean texts, e-mails, or instant messages Posting offensive pictures or messages about others in blogs or on Web sites Using someone else's user name to spread rumors or lies about someone Sending repeated notes Forwarding supposedly private messages, pictures or videos to others Threatening or harassing others with offensive language Cyberbullying is more difficult to detect and victimization is ongoing! Cyberbullying: Call To Action “Students need to have a better understanding of family, school and legal limits on online speech, negative influences of online behavior and Internet privacy protection.” -Nancy Willard, Educator’s Guide to Cyberbullying BULLYING AND GROTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS *A board district-wide bullying policy— first adopted in 2003, revised in 2009 and is currently under revision by BOE *Published in student handbook— available on website *We follow the policy on intervening in all complaints of bullying Full-Time Resource Officer—Groton Town Police department on staff Security Personnel are in the building all day Administrators and Faculty Supervise all lunch waves Teachers have building supervision duties Freshman Academic Seminar course has addressed issue of conflict identification, resolution and interpersonal violence District-wide bullying survey will be implemented in April of 2011 Creation of the FHS Anti-Bullying Coalition Student Anti-Bullying Coalition Parent Anti-Bullying Coalition Faculty Anti-Bullying Coalition Community Anti-Bullying Coalition The ABC’s of Bullying: Abuse of Power: Bullying is an act of aggression toward another person. There are many forms and types of bullying. Be a Responsible Bystander: Look for signs of bullying—seek help immediately. Communication and Caring: We can Achieve More if we Care and Communicate More. TIMELINE: December-January 1. Faculty Presentation—December 7th—Introduction to Bullying 2. Middle School and Freshman Bullying presentation— December 10th. 3. Anti-Bullying Coalition meeting(including all subcommittee members) December 14th, 2:15, Band Room 4. Upper Classmen Presentation 2nd semester. 5. Schedule a presentation to SIT. 6. Create consistent meeting schedules for all subcommittees. 7. Identify faculty, student, parent and community leaders of the coalition sub-committees. 8. Identify sub-committee goals. 9. Promote “Rachel’s Challenge”—fundraising, etc. Student Anti-Bullying Coalition Kathryn Peirce [email protected] Parent Anti-Bullying Coalition Stacey Noreika [email protected] Faculty Anti-Bullying Coalition Amy Frayne [email protected] Community AntiBullying Coalition TBD American Psychological Association. “Bullying.” Created 2010. Date of Access Oct, 2010. http://www.apa.org/topics/bullying/index.aspx. Lujan, Michael L., M.Ed. “Mentoring Minds: Bully Guide Prevention and Intervention Tool. Mentoring Minds, 2008. www.mentoringminds.com Willard, Nancy, MS, JD. Educator’s Guide to Cyber Bullying. Created April 2007. Date of Access 2010. http://www.cyberbully.org/cyberbully/docs/cbcteducator.pdf