John Monfredo: Anti-Bullying Programs a Must for Worcester Schools

Saturday, April 07, 2012

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester Education Contributor

“I just want the bullying to stop. That is all I ever wanted. I used to love going to school. Now I hate it."
- Anonymous

Bullying and now cyber bullying have become dangerous threats to children everywhere. You can’t pick up a paper or watch the 11:00 p.m. news without a story on bullying. When I retired as a principal and ran for school committee bullying was one of my most important agenda items. Several years ago, I worked with former State Senator Ed Augustus in attempting to get a law on bullying. It passed in the Senate but failed in the House.

It was not until two deaths occurred by suicide did a law finally pass. It took the tragedies at South Hadley and the Springfield Charter School for State officials to take notice of the need to push forward legislation to deal with this problem. Sadly, Massachusetts had been one of six states lacking a specific law targeting school bullying but now we finally have a most comprehensive law to protect our children.

“Bullying is unfair and one-sided. It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose.”

The issue of bullying and its affect on its victims has finally been recognized. As a principal, I saw bullying first hand and saw how it affected the children. I remember seeing a little girl crying in the corner of the school yard because she was told by one of her classmates that she wasn’t allowed to play with them because they didn’t like the way she dressed. Then there was a boy who wasn’t picked to play with the other boys on their football team at recess time because he couldn’t speak English.

Programs in Place in Worcester

The Worcester Public Schools have been ahead of the curve on this issue through the leadership of Colleen O’Brian, Director of Health. A number of schools are trained with a program entitled, “Steps to Respect.” The program comes from the Committee for Children, a non-profit organization seeking to improve children’s lives.

This program helps the school community as a whole find a solution to bullying for the children learn to use respectful behavior toward others and the school staff learns to work closely with students to respond with sensitivity and effectively to bullying. In addition, our School Safety Liaison, Robert Pezzella, has initiated a number of seminars on the issue of bullying bringing in the District Attorney’s office along with Dr. Elizabeth Englander, an expert in bullying and aggression for teacher training.

As required by the Massachusetts new law, each school district had to submit a much needed plan to combat the issue of bullying. Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Chester in discussing the plans stated, “Successful anti-bullying measures will result from a whole – school approach and prevention plans should force school leaders to be pro-active in teaching students to be civil to one another and in promoting understanding of and respect for diversity and difference.”

The Worcester Public Schools' plan has a Statement of Purpose, and made it perfectly clear that this school system will not tolerate any form of bullying.

The purpose is stated as follows:

The Worcester Public Schools Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan is a comprehensive approach to addressing bullying and cyber-bullying. Worcester Public Schools are committed to working with students, staff, families, law enforcement agencies, and the community to prevent issues of violence. In consultation with these constituencies, we have established this Plan for preventing, intervening, and responding to incidents of bullying, cyber-bullying, and retaliation. The district takes seriously its responsibility for the implementation of the Plan to ensure students are safeguarded from bullying.

Awareness is Key

The keys to the success of this plan will be in the annual training of ALL staff members, leadership in all schools, and communication to all students about what constitutes bullying and researched based prevention programs.
Having said that, the administration also sent out flyers home outlining tips on what to do if your child is being bullied and tips on what to do if your child is bullying others. The Hotline Telephone Number (508) 799-3472 and the E-Mail: [email protected].

Other measures included:

• The Worcester Public School Safe and Secure Learning Environment Committee identified and published a calendar of parent information meetings at individual schools. Those meeting were well attended.

• Professional Development through viewing of the DVD have been presented by trained school teams during the faculty meeting to all teachers, instructional assistants, cafeteria workers, itinerant staff and support staff.

• Athletic Coaches annually have been discussing this plan with their students.

• The custodial, secretarial and newly hired staff are required to view the DVD training on the internet and print out a certificate of completion. Henceforth, all Worcester Public Schools Staff have received annual written notices of policy for Bullying Prevention and Intervention through the Superintendent’s Bulletin and viewing of DVD training.

A Strong Plan

The Worcester Public Schools do recognize the significance of this law and has been providing effective instruction including classroom approaches and whole school initiatives with focused strategies for bullying prevention and social skills development. What I like about this plan is its prevention piece. We need to do all that we can to prevent bullying through education.

Classroom teachers remain in the classroom when these classes are being taught to co-facilitate and reinforce the lessons throughout the week. These same health teachers will provide resources for all Kindergarten teachers from the Second Step program.

The District Attorney’s office has also provided workshops to students regarding bullying at other grade levels. They will help students understand the dynamics of bullying and cyber bullying by emphasizing cyber safety, including safe and appropriate use of electronic communication technologies.

One recent addition to the plan has been the establishment of a new program entitled B.R.A.C.E. (Bullying Remediation and Court Education). The program was rolled out by Judge Carole Erskine of the Worcester County Juvenile Court and with the assistance of School Safety Liaison Robert Pezzella of the Worcester Public Schools, a number of partnerships were formed.

I wanted to pilot the program in Worcester because it’s a big district and many of the cases were coming in from Worcester… the idea was to use clinicians, police and court officials to educate kids about potential consequences of bullying including the potential for legal involvement.

The Worcester Public School plan is most thorough and it takes into account the need to get everyone on board about the importance of understanding the bullying law and its plan.

Keep it Simple

According to the research institute of Olweus Bullying Prevention Program out of Clemson University the recommendation is that schools adopt four straightforward rules about bullying:

• We will not bully others
• We will try to help students who are bullying
• We will make it a point to include students who are easily left out
• If we know someone is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.
That to me is some pretty sound advice!

As an educator and one who has advocated so hard for change, I couldn’t be more pleased with our school system moving forward with their bullying plan. Let’s remember that any program on bullying is only a beginning for we can’t have any “end date” for bullying prevention activities. Please remember bullying is not just a problem in poor schools, nor is it confined to a particular ethnic group. It’s universal. As difficult and widespread a problem as bullying is, it is also a problem that can be solved. Research from across the nation shows that when schools take specific action, bullying can be eliminated.