ESC I
Bully Prevention
Dr. Lorna Harrison
November 29, 2012
Agenda of Topics
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Pervasiveness of Bullying
Types of Bullying
Bullies, Targets, By-Standers
Laws and Policies
Importance of Integrated Bully Curriculum
into Daily Curriculum
• Critical Components of Bullying Curricula
• Hands-on Activities
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Districts MUST be Proactive
• Address student needs for safety, security
and well being
• Improve academic skill acquisition
• Improve academic performance
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Impacting Learning
“How can you perform in school if you’re
worried about getting beat up and made
fun of? Violence is more than just physical;
it’s verbal and very mental.”
(Stephen Sroka, ass’t prof Case Western Reserve University, 2010)
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Bullying is Pervasive
• 2006-2007 = 55.5 million students PreK-12
• 79% students (ages 12-18) bullied at school
during school (2007)
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21% made fun of
18% subject of rumors
11% pushed, shoved, tripped or spit on
6% threatened with harm
5% purposefully excluded
4% tried to make do things didn’t want to do and/or
property destroyed
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Bullying is Pervasive
• 2006-2007 = 5% of 55.5 million students
ages 12-18 were afraid of attack or harm at
school.
 2006-2007=7% of students avoided a
school activity in school because of fear of
attack or harm.
(NCES Indicators of School Crime & Safety,2008)
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Bullying is Pervasive
• Only 38% of US students always feel
safe at school and 30% rarely or never
feel safe. US Dept of Health and Human Services, 2003
• One out of five children admits to being
a bully. Noll & Carter, 1997
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Bullying is Pervasive
• 43% of children have a fear of being
harassed in the school bathroom.
Noll & Carter, 1997
• Bullying can be physical or
psychological. Janis Bullock, 2002
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Bullying is Pervasive
• Almost 30% of youth in the United States
(or over 5.7 million) are estimated to be
involved in bullying as either a bully, a
target of bullying, or both being bullied
themselves.
(Safe Youth, 2009)
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The Wrong Skill Set
• Many young children who bully lack
empathy, problems solving skills and learn
from parents to hit back in response to
problems. Vladimir and Brubach, 2000.
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Bullying Definition
(a) repeated (not just once) harm to others by hurting
others’ feelings through words or by attacking and
physically hurting others;
• (b) it may be done by one person or by a group;
• (c) it happens on the school grounds or on the way to and
from school; and
• (d) it is an unfair match (i.e., the person doing the bullying
is physically stronger or better with words or making
friends than the person being bullied .
JoLynn V. Carney 2008
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Impact of Bullying
• More than 2/3 of school shootings are
motivated by revenge against bullies.
(Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in
Schools, US Secret Service Threat Assessment Ctr, 2000)
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Impact of Bullying
Psychological harm includes:
• Drop in grades
• Increased anxiety
• Loss of friends
• Loss of social life
(Glew et al, Pediatrics in Review, June, 2000)
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Impact of Bullying
Physical harm includes:
• Broken bones, bruises, cuts
• SUICIDE
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Understanding the Bully
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Who Is the Bully?
• Ironically, many are likeable
• Little anxiety over consequences or
potential punishment
• Strong social self-esteem, but low inner
self-esteem
• Derive satisfaction from inflicting suffering
• Defensive of action blaming the victim for
provoking them
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Who is the Bully?
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Can be male and female
Little to no empathy for victims
Defiant to adults
Troubled family backgrounds/inconsistent
discipline at home
• Bullying role models at home
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Who is the Bully?
“…aggressive, lacking a moral compass,
conflicts in relationships with parents,
friends…associate with others who are
bullies.”
(Science Daily – March 26,2008)
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Understanding the Target/Victim
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Who is the Target/Victim
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Anxious
Socially isolated
Physically weaker
Low self-esteem
Limited social skills and/or friends
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Understanding the By-Stander
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Who is the ByStander?
• Sees or is aware of bully’s actions and does
nothing
• Encourages the bully’s behavior
• Accepts the bully’s behavior
• Silently supports the target/victim
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The Bystander
• 18% of ms and hs students said they’d join
in their friends were bullying someone.
(Whitney and Smith, 1993)
• Culpable for escalation of bullying by
acceptance of bullying behavior
• Perpetuate bullying
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What do kids think about telling
teachers?
• Telling adults will only increase bullying
• Teachers never acknowledge or talk about
bullying
• Bullying happens where there are few
teachers ( bathrooms, cafeteria, recess, bus
stop)
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Influences on Bullying
Campus Culture
• Limited to no policy enforcement
• Weak/outdated policy
• Limited outreach to parents as to campus
efforts to eliminate bullying
• Accepted student “peer norms” for bullying
• Unlimited student technology access
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Types of Bullying
• Traditional – Direct and Indirect
-Physical- pushing, hitting, stealing
-Emotional-verbal attacks
-Social- ostracism
• New Age
-Cyberbullying
-Emotional/social via phones and computers
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Cyberbullying
• Cyberbullying
– Sexting (practice of using cell phones to send
sexually provocative photos of oneself)
“Teens use texting as a part of or instead of
sexual activity or a way to starting/maintaining
a relationship. Photos are passed to friends for
their entertainment or joke or fun,”
Pew Report,2010
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Cyberbullying Definition
• Cruelty by computer (Boston Globe, 2009)
• Willful and repeated harm inflicted through
the use of computers, cell phones, and
other electronic devices (Cyberbully Research Ctr)
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Cyberbullying
• 9% of middle schoolers reported being a
victim of cyberbullying (Cyberbully Research Ctr, 2009)
• Washington (state) reported increase of
cyberbullying cases to be 32% of all bullying
cases (2009)
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Sexting
• Sending or receiving nude or sexually
suggestive photos of oneself or others via
cell phone. (NSBA, 2010)
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Lingo IS EVERYTHING
HT,
AFAIK, ILY- KOTL,
TTFN
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Bullying and Cyberbullying:
What Can Districts Do?
• “Well it happens off campus, so there’s
nothing we can do. We can’t monitor them
24 hours a day.”
• “We can’t help what a kid does with phone
when they’re not on campus.”
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Cyberbullying
What should Districts do?
• Specific definitions for electronic variants
for harassment, intimidation, bullying
• Graduated consequences and remedial
actions
• Procedures for reporting
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Cyberbullying
What should Districts do?
• Explain ISP policy
• Provide specific definitions for harassment,
intimidation, and bullying
• Encourage students to report incidents to
ISP, parents, school administrators
• Provide process for students to report to
teachers, administrators, “safe zone”
groups
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What should districts DO?
• On campus - Substantial interference with
the school discipline or rights of others
• Off campus – when it can be demonstrated
the incident resulted in a substantial
disruption of the educational environment.
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What Should Districts Do?
• Layshock v. Hermitage School District (2006)
Action resulted in “ an actual disruption of
the day-to-day operation” of the school,
the action became punishable by the
school district.
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What Should Districts do?
• Procedures for investigating incidents
• Specific language if speech/behavior results
in “substantial disruption of the learning
environment”
• Procedures for preventing cyberbullying
including curriculum enhancements
(Cyberbully Research Center)
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Implications
• School Board Members held accountable
(S.Hadley School Committee Chair resigned-Phoebe Prince suicide)
• Nationwide increase of school districts and
administrators being sued
(Mentor Public Schools-Ohio; Casey County Schools – Kentucky; Mohawk Central School
District-New York; Georgetown ISD –Texas; Tarkington ISD – Texas; Murray County
Schools - Georgia)
• Increased state laws -Missouri, Florida
-Florida districts must implement program or lose state funding
• Parents requesting pro-active attention to
bullying
(Birdville ISD, Joshua ISD, South Hadley, Gonzales ISD)
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Implications = growing Lawsuits
• Georgetown ISD 2009 (bullying)
• Beaumont ISD 2009 (bullying)
• DeKalb Schools 2009 (11yr Jaheem
Herrera’s suicide after bullying)
• Sioux City Schools 2009 (bullying)
• Pittsburgh Schools 2009 (bullying)
• St. Ignatius (Chicago) 2009 (bullying)
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The Unthinkable – the Death of a Child
• Jon Carmichael, 13 yrs, Joshua, TX,
April 1, 2010
• Tyler Long, 17 yrs, Murray County, GA,
October 17, 2009
• Phoebe Prince, 15 yrs, S.Hadley, MA,
January 15, 2010
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The Unthinkable – the Death of a Child
• Montana Lance, 9 yrs. Lewisville ISD,
January 21, 2010
• Eric Mohat, 17 yrs, Ohio, March 27,
2007
• Meagan Meier, 13 yrs, Dardenne
Prairie, MO
• Lufkin ISD- suicide 2009
• Houston ISD -3rd grader jumped from
2nd floor at school -2010 - survived
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Law & Policy
• 41 states have laws on Bullying
Florida -Jeff’s Law
• MA wants policy to address traditional
bullying and cyberbullying
• Increase of statewide policies on bullying in
schools
– Utah State Board of Ed, “take action that will
address where there has been more history of
these kinds of incidents” 2009
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Growing interest in developing policy
• Develop policy for local schools requiring
address traditional bullying and
cyberbullying.
• Schools would have to document all cases
of harassment, discrimination,
intimidation, bullying and report on
resulting discipline.
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Growing interest in developing policy
• Michigan reviewing anti-bullying bill that
would “compel” local school districts to
develop plans to address and prevent
bullying situations.
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Most Recent Texas Law
• HB 1942
• HB 1386
• Both effective June 17, 2100
• Mandated
• Not appropriated
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Most Recent Texas Law
• HB 1942
• Requires school districts to develop
polices on bullying. It adds preventing,
identifying, responding to, and reporting
incidents of bullying to the list of
possible topics at staff development
trainings.
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Most Recent Texas Law
• Texas Bullying Definition
• Bullying is defined as engaging in
activity on school property, at a schoolrelated activity, or in a district-operated
vehicle that physically harms the
student, damages the student’s
property, or places the student in
reasonable fear of such personal harm
or damage.
More…..
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Most Recent Texas Law
Definition continued;
• Behavior is bullying if it is severe,
persistent, and pervasive enough to
create an intimidating, threatening, or
abusive educational environment for the
student, exploit an imbalance of power
between the perpetrator and the victim,
and interfere with a student’s education
or substantially disrupt the operation of
a school.
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Most Recent Texas Law
School board policy MUST:
• Prohibits retaliation against anyone who
provides information on an incident of
bullying, including a victim or witness;
• Establishes a procedure to notify a
parent of the victim and the bully within
a reasonable time after the incident;
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Most Recent Texas Law
• Establishes how a student can obtain
assistance in response to bullying;
• Sets out the available counseling
options for a student who experiences
or witnesses bullying or engages in
bullying;
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Most Recent Texas Law
• Establishes procedures for reporting an
incident of bullying, investigating an
incident, and determining whether the
incident occurred;
• Prohibits the disciple one students who
use reasonable self-defense to respond
to bullying
and
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Most Recent Texas Law
• Requires that discipline for bullying of a
disabled student complies with
applicable federal law.
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Most Recent Texas Law
Remember Under certain conditions, a school board
may transfer a student engaging in
bullying to another classroom or
campus.
TEKS for the health curriculum must also
include EVIDENCE-BASED
PRACTICES that effectively address:
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Most Recent Texas Law
Awareness
Prevention
Identification
Resolution of and Intervention in bullying
and harassment cases.
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Most Recent Texas Law
HB 1386
Establishes early intervention mental
health and suicide prevention programs
in public schools.
TEA & DSHS must provide a list of best
practice programs.
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Most Recent Texas Law
Components must include:
Training for counselors, teachers, nurses,
administrators, law enforcement
officers, & social workers who regularly
interact with students to:
Recognize students at risk of committing
suicide;
Recognize victims and perpetrators of
bullying
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Most Recent Texas Law
Recognize students displaying early
warning signs of mental health issues;
and
Intervene effectively with the student or
provide notice to parents.
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Most Recent Texas Law
“ Each school board MAY adopt a policy
that:
Establishes a procedure to provide notice
to parents;
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Most Recent Texas Law
Establishes that the district may develop a
reporting mechanism and designate a
district liaison for identifying troubled
students; and
Describes for parents the optional
counseling alternatives available for the
child.
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Most Recent Texas Law
District policy must prohibit any medical
screening of a student without prior
parental consent.
The policies and procedures must be
included in the annual student
handbook submitted to TEA
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Be Proactive
• US DOE & National Assn of Attorneys
General recommends that every school
make a policy and teach everyone in school
how to prevent, spot and deal with bullying
and harassment.
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Doing It the Right Way
• If you don’t know where you are going,
chances are you will end up somewhere
else.
– Yogi Berra
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Not a one-time shot
THAT POSTER ON THE WALL
AIN’T WORKING!
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Not a one-time shot
THE ONCE A YEAR, FEEL –
GOOD SPEAKER…….
AIN’T WORKING!
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No Quick Fix
• “What is clear from a review of existing
bullying prevention programs is that 1-shot
workshops don’t work. There are no quick
fixes; success requires remaking of the
entire school climate: Effective bullying
programs are on-going and are integrated
with the curriculum, school discipline
policies, and other violence prevention”
Hernepin Lawyer County Bar Association
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District’s dilemma
• How to simultaneously integrate a
comprehensive, structured bullying
prevention curriculum without sacrificing
“seat time” on academics?
• How can we measure progress in both
areas?
• How can we evaluate gains?
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Look for a Bully Prevention Curriculum that
will:
• MUST BE RESEARCHED BASED WITH
PROVEN EFFICACIOUS RESULTS
• Be comprehensive
• Integrate into the daily existing curriculum
• Provide a common framework and
language within the district among
students, teachers, and parents
• Have clear achievable objectives and goals
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Look for a Bully Prevention Curriculum that
will:
• Supplement not supplant
• Improve academic skill acquisition and
performance
• Improve vital self-management and
interpersonal relationship skills
• Be measurable both quantitatively and
qualitatively
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Critical Components
• Curriculum must be incorporated into daily
curriculum
• Common language across campus/home
• Common understanding of what
constitutes bullying behavior
• Common understanding of action steps to
take when bullying occurs
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Effective Bully Prevention Curriculum
• Student Centered
• Developmental Approach
• Grade Level Appropriate Content
• Comprehensive Scope
• Enhance, Extend, Enrich Core Curriculum
• Involve Parents and Community
Stakeholders
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Where and How to Start:
Involvement
• Parent Involvement – awareness of
curriculum at campus, employ anti-bully
behavior in the home
• Student Involvement – what is bullying,
how to report an incident, peer coaching
• Teacher/Administrator Involvement –
campus common language/rules, common
commitment, listen and speak up
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Gap Analysis and Effectiveness
Evaluation
• ESTABLISH YOUR CAMPUS BASELINE
• Parental Survey – awareness and involvement levels Before and After curriculum
• Teacher Survey – perceptions and common
language Before and After curriculum
• Student Survey – awareness, perceptions,
common language Before and After
curriculum
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Critical Elements and Implementation
• Needs assessment results specifically
define gaps, pockets for improvement and
change
• Needs assessment results set priorities for
implementation
• Needs assessment establish parameters to
achieve/goals to achieve
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Defines Barriers
• We have a bullying problem
• We don’t have a bullying problem
• I don’t have time to work with counselors
on bullying. I have to work on their test
scores
• I don’t have the tools I need to make a
difference
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Needs Assessment
Sets the Foundation
• Needs Assessment allow you to compare
current program with where you want to
be
• Needs assessment’s results let you know
exactly what to evaluate
• Other wise – it’s Yogi’s quote
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Using Results for Effective Action Plans
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Overall campus view of bullying
Overall view of perceptions of parents
Overall view of student perceptions
Overall view of teachers, administrators
level of “buy in
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Common Definition
• Speaking the same language helps all
stakeholders understand what constitutes
bullying and what should be done to
address it as a group.
• Post it on the Web
• Post it in each classroom
• Post on information sent to parents
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Let ‘em know
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Impact of Research-based Bully Prevention
Program
• Improved Academic Performance
• Improved Attitude Toward Others
• Meets Student Needs for Safety, Security,
and Well-Being
• Improved Attitude Toward School Work
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Impact of Research-based Bully Prevention
Program
• Safer School Environment
• More Secure School Environment
• Improved School Climate
• Less Aggressive Behavior
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First Steps
• Know your district’s policy
• Post in Every Classroom, rest room,
cafeteria
• Post on web, school newsletters
• Don’t buy into they hype of the “quick”
fix!
• Only implement PROVEN programs
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Let’s Start Now!
• Let’s break into groups and see where your
campus is today and plan for a new
approach to prevent bullying!
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Questions? Stay in Touch
• Dr. Lorna Harrison
• Cell: 512-663-4076
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