Providing Students with Safety Tips

The Center for the Study and Prevention for Violence has excellent information and statistics on school safety. Further, the center provides outstanding tips for keeping schools and communities safe. For example, bullying prevention tips are listed for students, parents, and schools to use. The tips are categorized by user (e.g. parent or student). Practical tips are given to students, such as: “Avoid unsupervised areas of school,” and “Take a different route to and from school.” In many ways, tips like these are survival skills.

Why don't schools and parents better prepare students to take measures against bullies or other violent students? It seems that many individuals and organizations find that ignoring an issue means it is not real or that it will never be a problem. People often like to ignore the bad that goes on in their daily lives while focusing on the good. This could be analogous to Sigmund Freud's pleasure principle if we were to draw a comparison to human behavior.

It is essential that schools, parents, and other adults prepare students to deal with bullying and violence before it happens; otherwise, how will they know how to react. Would anyone ask a young child to cross the street without first warning the child of the dangers, and providing some helpful solutions to avoiding those dangers? Students need to be given intelligent solutions to avoiding violence and bullying if they are to be successful in avoiding dangerous situations. The link below is an excellent place for parents, educators, and other adults to start.

The Center for the Study and Prevention for Violence
http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/safeschools/bullying/overview.html#tips

Bullying: How do Parents Find Out About it?

Richard Goldbloom (2001) makes a phenomenal point in an article in Reader's Digest (Canada) by pointing out that parents should not always believe it when a school reports there are no problems in school for students. Goldbloom defines bullying as “the tendency for some children to frequently oppress, harass or intimidate other children, verbally, physically or both- in and out of school” (Goldbloom, 2001).

Bullying can take the form of an underground form of violence that is never spoken about, so parents' children are not likely to talk about bullying at school or outside of school (whether they or other students are involved with it). Reluctance to attend school, being afraid, different sleep patterns, nightmares, and general physical complaints, and ripped clothes or broken student property can all be signs that bullying is occurring (Goldbloom, 2001).

Do schools always make parents aware of bullying issues? Parents cannot count on it. Many schools minimize the problem of bullying, and do not want information of such behavior to be completely public, as it could put the school in a bad light. This is why parents should take it upon themselves to check to make sure their child or children are not being bullied (Goldbloom, 2001).

Looking for signs of bullying, and talking to their children about bullying are both proactive steps to help ensure their children are not experiencing bullying. Parents can be embarrassed to find out their son or daughter is being “picked on” by other students. This can make it very difficult for parents to hear the truth and for students to tell their parents the truth. Parents should listen carefully to their children when they are discussing bullying at school, and remain calm. Otherwise, the child will not be comfortable enough to be honest (Goldbloom, 2001).

References

Goldbloom, R.B. (2001). Parents Primer on School Bullying. Reader's Digest (Canada). Taken from http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/10/bullying.html on July 21, 2007.

School Partnerships

There is a very interesting U.S. Department of Justice document that was put out by Rana Sampson (2002). It is titled “Bullying in Schools” and was put together for community law enforcement organizations. Within it, community policing is discussed, which is defined as organizational strategies that “reduce fear of crime and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and police-community partnerships” (Sampson, 2002).

Within the school environment, it is very important to make sure students and teachers do not feel unsafe, and it is important to keep order in school buildings. Like community law enforcement, creating partnerships can be an excellent way to increase safety and the perception of safety in a school. What types of partnerships might be helpful? Partnering with parents helps values and moral lessons taught at school be reinforced at home. Working with athletic coaches also can help consistent messages be given to students in and out of school. Mental health workers in the community could assist a school with identifying any fears that students or parents have with regard to the school environment. Local law enforcement could be partnered with in order to develop crisis intervention plans. Options for partnerships can be endless, and customized with regard to a school and community's needs. Clearly, collaboration and partnering are necessary to effectively keep school safe in our high-tech, globalized world.

Reference

Sampson, R. (2002). Bullying in schools. Community Oriented Policing Strategies, p. 3-66; taken from http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=27 on July 20, 2007.

Cyberbullying Flies Under the Radar

When most people think of bullying they think of physical violence, verbal threats, or unwanted teasing. The Internet, e-mail, and instant messaging in the home are not necessarily liked to school, yet they affect school safety in a very real way. Wiseman (2007) eloquently describes how technology can lead to bullying at home as well as in school, and how bullying outside of school can affect students in school. Bullying through various modes of technology is called cyberbullying, and has become much more prevalent. Unfortunately, most administrators and parents are completely unaware when a child or adolescent is being cyberbullied. Wiseman (2007) lists the following statistics about cyberbulling and students (which were taken from wiredsafety.org):

• 90% of middle school students report feelings being hurt online
• 75% have accessed a Web site “bashing” a student
• 40% have had passwords stolen, and some of that 40% had e-mail or messages sent from their accounts by those who stole the password
• 15% of parents reported knowing how to define cyberbullying
  

Some students have taken photographs with cell phone cameras of other students changing clothes after PE or a sporting event, and then posted them online with disparaging comments. Text messaging has been used to deliver threats from one or more students to another student. Parents should speak to their children about cyberbullying, and monitor their technology use (including the Internet at home and cell phones). You may find out more about cyberbullying by reading Wiseman's article. The reference is:
Wiseman, R. (2007) How to fight the new bullies. Parade, February 25, p. 6-7.

It is clear that cyberbullying is a major problem, and it will only become larger with time. At the moment most cyberbullying is flying under the radar. It is important for educators and parents to become aware of this type of bullying, so they can intervene.

"The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander"

Barbara Coloroso authored an excellent book on bullying called “The Bully, the bullied, and the Bystander.” I recommend this book to any educator, school administrator, or parent. What makes this particular book on bullying worth reading? Coloroso takes a multi-contextual approach in her discussion of bullying in schools. The book discusses bullies, the bullied, bystanders, schools, educators, and parents. It discusses extreme cases of bullying that may have led to student homicides and suicides (referred to as “bullycide” by Coloroso). Aside from clearly describing the problem of bullying and student violence in schools, the book also suggests helpful ways for parents and schools to protect children. I was very impressed that the bystander was included in this book because the bully and the bullied are not the only players in most bullying incidents. Coloroso makes it clear that bystanders have the power to stop bullying behaviors, and offers several descriptive stories of bystanders preventing bullying. Theories and ideas about bullying and bullying prevention are woven together with real life examples that add meaning to Coloroso’s messages. Please find a reference for this book below.


Coloroso, B. (2003). The bully, the bullied, and the bystander. Harper Collins
Publishers Inc., New York: N.Y.

Keeping School Safe

School safety has especially been an issue over the last few decades, and will continue to be a problem. However, it is possible for school officials and educators to improve school safety by increasing their knowledge of peer dynamics at particular age groups, and by planning proactive measures to decrease peer harassment as well as peer violence. Often times, students in schools who are labeled "bullies" are seen as untouchable by other students. It is necessary for school officials to begin proactively changing schools in order to create an environment that will encourage the student population to actively denounce acts of peer violence or peer harassment, and to report such events to the appropriate school officials.

This blog is an arena for educators to read and report recent research and literature related to school safety. It is also a place for educators to offer suggestions for improving school safety. Hopefully, this blog can play a small part in keeping school safe for children and adolescents.