Transcript Bullying Prevention and Intervention in Schools Cross Timbers Middle School Counseling Department Defining Bullying Bullying is when a student or group of students engages in.

Bullying
Prevention and Intervention in Schools
Cross Timbers Middle School
Counseling Department
Defining Bullying
Bullying is when a student or group of students
engages in written or verbal expression, or
physical conduct that:
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Will have the effect of physically harming a student, damaging a
student’s property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of
harm.
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Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive enough that it
creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational
environment for the student.
Bullying is:
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Aggressive
Intentional
Involves an imbalance of power
Bullying may be:
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Repeated over time
Acted out in many different forms.
Bullying is NOT:
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A normal childhood activity
A rite of passage
The target’s fault
Unpreventable
Bullying can happen in 5 ways:
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Verbal: Ignoring, isolation, put downs, name calling, teasing,
gossip, threats.
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Physical: Blocking, pushing, kicking, fighting, physical restraint.
Sexual: Innuendos, touching, slapping, pictures, jokes, sexual
harassment, assault.
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Property: hiding belongings, theft, extortion (blackmail),
vandalism, destruction.
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Cyber: Direct or indirect attacks using cell phones, computers,
email, social networking sites or other electronic means to accomplish
any of the above types of bullying.
For the target, bullying is a “loss”
experience:
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LOSS of safety
LOSS of self-esteem
LOSS of belongings
LOSS of control over their own life.
Is it really bullying?
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Not every incident that students report will fit the
definition of bullying.
Adolescence is often a difficult time
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Moving from elementary school to middle school
Changing friends, social groups, and status
Coping emotional and physical changes
Often situations involving some “bullying” type
behaviors, such as name calling or exclusion, is part
of normal peer conflict, and can be worked out with
mediation.
Effects of Bullying on the Target:
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Physical Effects
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Stomach aches
Weight loss/gain
Headaches
Drop in grades
Drug or alcohol use
Sexual acting out
Suicidal
thoughts/statements
Homicidal
thoughts/statements
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Emotional Effects
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Alienation
Loneliness
Low self-esteem
Insecurity
FEAR
Depression
Withdrawal
Aggression
Anger
Thoughts/acts of revenge
Results of Bullying
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Violence
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The Secret Service did a study on school violence and found that bullying
was a factor in over 40 school violence incidents including:
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Barry Loukaitis, 14, Moses Lake, WA February 2, 1996
Joseph “Colt” Todd, 14, Stamps, AR December 15, 1997
Eric Harris, 17, and Dylan Klebold, 18, Littleton, CO April 20, 1999
Charles “Andy” Williams, Santee CA March 6, 2001
Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, Williamsport, PA March 7, 2001
Suicide
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Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15-25 year olds and sixth
among 5-14 year olds.
500,000 teens attempt suicide every year.
5000 succeed.
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Phoebe Prince, 15, Northampton, MA, January 2010
Eric Mohat, 17, Mentor, OH, March 2007
Jeremiah Lasater, 14, Acton, CA, October 2010
Megan Meier, 13, St. Louis, MS, 2006
Warning Signs that a Child is being
Bullied
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Frequently the target of teasing, intimidation, domination at school
Has a derogatory nickname
Regularly has bruises or injuries that can’t be explained
Has belongings taken or damaged
Few or no close friends at school
Frequently socially isolated
Chosen last for teams or other activities
Less assertive or lacks the skills to respond to teasing
Appears weak or easily dominated
Tries to stay close to a teacher or other adult during
passing periods, lunch or other free periods.
Factors that contribute to bullying
behavior:
 Family
Factors:
conflict in the home, lack of
attention, lack of supervision, modeling of aggressive
behavior.
 Individual
Factors: active and impulsive
personality, craves attention, insecure.
 School
Factors: overall climate of the school
is uncaring or indifferent, perception of students is
that teachers know about bullying and don’t care,
disrespectful interactions are ignored or tolerated.
3 Types of Bullies:
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The Confident Bully:
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Physically strong, aggressive, high self-esteem, popular, but
insecure.
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The Anxious Bully:
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Academically weak, less popular, low self-esteem, insecure
and with a need to control, may be immature and envious.
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More likely to use violence, theft and destruction of property.
More likely to use teasing, name-calling and social isolation.
The Bully / Victim
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Bullies in some situations and victimized by bullies in other
situations, poor social skills, generally unpopular, may taunt
and provoke bullies.
85% of students are NEITHER
bullies nor victims.
These are the SILENT
MAJORITY and they
can build positive peer
pressure against
bullying.
Why is someone targeted?
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Size: being a different size -- smaller or bigger – for your age.
Differences: having a characteristic that makes you stand out like being
African-American at a mostly white school, a girl in a shop class that's crowded
with boys, or having a disability that makes you walk or talk differently.
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Reaction: getting anxious or upset very easily.
Social factors: not having many friends, being alone a lot; or not having
a lot of confidence and not standing up for yourself.
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Some kids get bullied as a result of a single thing that happened, like an embarrassing
moment that took place in front of other people.
Opportunity: being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Reputation: Usually, once someone is singled out by a bully, other people
will know that person is a target and start bullying her or him, too.
What can parents do?
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Talk to your child about bullying.
Be aware of bullying warning signs.
Contact the teacher, counselor or
administrator as soon as possible.
Help your child develop and practice bully
resistance skills.
Make a plan with your child about how the
bullying situation will be handled.
What should parents NOT do?
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Confront the bully or the bully’s parents. This
probably won’t help and might make things worse.
Tell your child to “get in there and fight.” Bullies are
usually stronger and more powerful than their
victims. Your child could get hurt.
Blame your child. Bullying is NEVER the victim’s
fault!
Promise to keep the bullying secret. This gives the
bully permission to keep bullying.
WHAT CAN MY
CHILD DO?
If he or she is being bullied:
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Keep Calm:
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Report it:
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Use the buddy system:
bullies love it when you react with tears or anger. Don’t
give them the reaction they are looking for.
Bullies will harass you as long as they think they will get
away with it. By reporting it and continuing to report it, you send them a
message that you are not going to take it.
Most bullies look for easy targets. If
you are alone, you are much less likely to have someone stand up for
you.
WHAT CAN MY CHILD
DO?
If he or she is being bullied:
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Make a joke:
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Be assertive:
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Walk away:
This approach throws the bully off guard and
lets them know that they are not going to get the reaction they are
looking for…. However, don’t make the joke at the bully’s
expense—that would just make YOU the bully.
Look the bully in the eye, and stand up for
yourself in a positive way.
Remove yourself from the situation as quickly as
possible. Get help from a teacher or other adult.
WHAT CAN MY
CHILD DO?
If he or she sees someone bullying others:
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Choose to get involved.
Tell the bully to stop.
Tell them that bullying is not okay in our school.
Distract the bully.
Get help.
Support the victim.
Ask the victim to join your group.
Offer a positive or encouraging comment.
Do not Laugh, participate, or stand around watching it
happen.
Report it.
WHAT CAN MY CHILD DO?
If he or she is bullying others:
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Ask yourself when, why and how you bully others.
Learn to treat everyone with respect.
Pay more attention to other’s feelings.
Think about the potential consequences of your actions.
Apologize to your former victim(s).
Talk to someone about the problem.
Take positive steps to help yourself. Some adults who were
bullies as children often end up with all sorts of problems failed relationships, few friends, frequent job changes, even
prison records.
Save yourself future grief by stopping bullying now.
What procedures are in place to
respond to bullying?
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Every incident of potential bullying is investigated by
the teacher or an administrator within 10 days.
If the incident is determined to meet the criteria of
bullying, the staff person will have the student fill out
an incident report form to document the incident.
An intervention will then be implemented.
The type of intervention will depend on the results of
the investigation.
Bullying Documentation to be filled out
by the student:
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Name
Grade
Date of Incident
Who was involved in the incident
When and where did it happen?
What happened? (Be specific)
To whom did you report the incident?
Bullying Documentation to be filled out
by a teacher/counselor/administrator
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Findings Summary
Results of Findings by Campus Personnel
This incident meets the definition of bullying as defined by FFI (LOCAL)
Yes ___ No ___
(If yes, please mark below the appropriate type of bullying displayed.)
FFI (LOCAL) Definition of Bullying:
Bullying occurs when a student or group of students engages in written or
verbalexpression or physical conduct that:
_____Physically harmed a student/s
_____Damaged a student/s’ property
_____Placed a student/s in reasonable fear of harm to themselves or their
property
_____Sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that the action or threat
creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment
for a student/s.
Action taken for incident/s
Potential Bullying
Interventions
Interventions will be applied based on the severity
and circumstances of the incident.
Potential interventions include:
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Student conference with a teacher, counselor, social worker,
administrator, etc.
Supportive follow up counseling as needed
Notification of parent of bullying behavior
Notification of teachers to actively monitor students involved
Referral to AP for disciplinary action
Other interventions to be considered on a case by case basis.
What is happening
at Cross Timbers?
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We have implemented clear policies and procedures to address bullying
district-wide.
We trained all staff on bullying.
We trained all students on bullying issues and have follow up activities planned
throughout the year.
We have increased supervision in the hallways, making it mandatory that all
teachers supervise the hallway every passing period.
We created an anonymous reporting form that students could access through
our website.
We investigate every incident of potential bullying, through the counseling
office, and offer supportive services for both the bully and the target.
We created a centralized log of all bullying incidents and the interventions.