The Bullies Inside Locked Schools

bullying

PHOTO COURTESY OF D. SHARON PRUITT

Physical and cyber-bullying represent another major safety and security problem for schools.

According to the National Center for Education statistics, 61 percent of schools report occasional bullying and 37 percent report bullying incidents at least once a month. Add those percentages, and 98 percent of schools need anti-bullying programs.

Last year, the “American Journal of Public Health” published a 2014 study analyzing bullying. Called “Trends in Bullying, Physical Fighting, and Weapon Carrying Among 6th- Through 10th-Grade Student from 1998 to 2010,” the study found that bullying has declined since 1998.

Specifically, students who reported being bullied at least twice per month declined from 13.7 percent in 1998 to 10.2 percent in 2010. Other studies have shown a similar downward trend.

Bullying experts attribute the decline to the number of anti-bullying programs adopted by schools. While these programs appear effective, it is not time to let up. The reason? Twenty-two percent of students still report being bullied in school.

Of the 22 percent of students that report being bullied, 7 percent say that they are being bullied electronically by way of texting, email, instant messaging and gaming.

So there is still a lot of bullying. Perhaps worse, bullying victims bring weapons to school. Another study presented at the 2014 meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies found that bullying victims were more likely than other students to bring weapons to school. The same study estimated that 200,000 bullying victims bring weapons to high school every month. A lot of those weapons probably go undetected.

More and more schools are incorporating anti-bullying efforts into their overall safety and security programs.

The website www.stopbullying.gov offers a step-by-step approach to building an anti-bullying program. You can compare your program to the one offered on the website or use the information to build your own program. Either way, it’s worth a look.

The first step is to conduct an assessment by surveying the community. According to the site, adults are often surprised by the extent of bullying uncovered by such anonymous surveys. That’s because kids don’t report being bullied, and bullies typically do their work when adults aren’t present.

Second, the stopbullying.gov program recommends engaging students, parents, teachers and administrators in developing an anti-bullying message. Set up a task force of students and adults to review and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Next develop a code of conduct, rules for behavior and a system that enables students to report bullying safely and comfortably. Include information about what bullying is. Some kids might not even realize they are being bullied.

The website also recommends using staff meetings, assemblies, class meetings, meetings with parents, newsletters for families, the school website and student handbook to establish an environment of acceptance, tolerance and respect.

Finally, develop a continuing education program for students, faculty and staff. Most importantly, train adults to recognize bullying and to intervene in an appropriate way.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine has been recognized with an EDS 2025 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Kenall Introduces Millenium Flair Series

    In a move aimed at modernizing institutional lighting without compromising on durability or performance, Kenall has launched its new Millenium Flair series, according to the Kenall website.

  • Austin International School Library Renovation

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Austin International School has been recognized with an EDS 2025 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • illustration of a school building under construction

    One District, One Way: Bringing Consistency to K–12 Construction Projects

    From budgeting to closeout, here's how a single playbook can turn chaos into clarity in school construction programs.

Digital Edition