BULLYING: WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW BY Kiel Area School District Student Services Staff November 9, 2015
Welcome KASD Parents! ⬜ Introductions ⬜ District Policy and Procedures ⬜ Definition of Bullying ⬜ Legal Implications ⬜ Social Emotional Perspective
KASD Board Policy 5517.01 " Bullying" is defined as a person willfully and repeatedly exercising power or control over another with hostile or malicious intent (i.e., repeated oppression, physical or psychological, of a less powerful individual by a more powerful individual or group). Bullying can be physical, verbal, electronically transmitted, psychological (e. g., emotional abuse), through attacks on the property of another , or a combination of any of these.
Different Types of Bullying (Board Policy, cont’d.) A. Physical – hitting, kicking, spitting, pushing, pulling, taking and/or damaging personal belongings or extorting money, blocking or impeding student movement, unwelcome physical contact; B. Verbal – taunting, malicious teasing, insulting, name calling, making threats; C. Psychological – spreading rumors, manipulating social relationships, coercion, or engaging in social exclusion/shunning, extortion, or intimidation; D ""Cyberbullying" – the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging (IM), defamatory personal web sites, and defamatory online personal polling web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others. [Bill Belsey (http//www.cyberbullying. ca)];
Differentiating Bullying from Normal Peer Conflict/Mean Behavior Normal conflict/mean Bullying behavior Imbalance of power ⬜ Equal power or are ⬜ Repeated negative ⬜ friends actions Happens occasionally ⬜ Intentional ⬜ Accidental ⬜ Physical or emotional ⬜ Not serious harm ⬜ Equal emotional Unequal emotional ⬜ ⬜ reaction reaction Not seeking power ⬜ Seeking ⬜ Remorse-will take control/material things ⬜ responsibility No remorse-blames ⬜ Effort to solve the target ⬜ problem No effort to solve the ⬜ problem
What Do We Do for Prevention? Building a positive school climate ⬜ Monday Afternoon Meetings – Zielanis ◼ ▫ Superflex: social emotional curriculum focused on teaching students flexible thinking strategies Character Counts – Middle School ◼ ▫ Communication with all of students of expectations regarding school rules and appropriate peer interactions Advisement - High School ◼ ▫ Staff are being trained with TRIBES ▫ Challenge Day – acceptance of differences. tolerance October – Bullying Awareness Month ⬜ Information sharing, creating awareness with the students in all buildings ◼ Staff presence in the hallway, creating awareness of concerns with teachers ⬜ Socio-Emotional lessons from K-8 th grade cover topics such as: ⬜ Conflict resolution ◼ Problem solving strategies ◼ Self-esteem ◼ Positive Relationships ◼
What Do We Do for Intervention? When problems arise with peer conflicts – ⬜ ◼ Mediation between students ◼ Mediation facilitated by a teacher or student services member Small group or individual consulting with students ⬜ as needed Linkages to outside agencies for students who also ⬜ have emotional well-being concerns Not one standard procedure – each situation is ⬜ responded to differently based upon the concerns and student comfort level Goal is to assist students with working through the ⬜ conflict versus it becoming a disciplinary situation
Psychosomatic Effects (Physical response to emotions) General Complaints ⬜ ◼ Headaches, stomachaches, anxiousness Health Room Visits – monitoring frequency ⬜ ◼ Visits documented in Skyward Absences/School Avoidance ⬜ Solutions ⬜ ◼ School nurse meets with the child; refers on to school counselors/psychologist for socio-emotional support ◼ Notify parents
Response when peer conflict reaches the level of bullying Staff initially work with the students to try to ⬜ resolve the conflict When it reaches the point of meeting the board ⬜ policy definition, a referral is made to the building principal ◼ Bullying incident report is completed ◼ Principal and/or police liaison officer work together to complete the investigation and document outcomes Students or parents can report bullying at any ⬜ point in time to staff members, student services member, principal, etc.
Recommendations for Parents If You Suspect Your Child is Being Bullied ◼ Take time to talk with your child – first rule out if this is typical peer relational difficulties ◼ Encourage and teach your child to: ▫ Be assertive (stand straight and look the bully in the eye) and tell the bully to “stop” and then report incident to teacher or trusted adult in the school. ▫ Report incidents even if they are uncomfortable confronting the bully ◼ Contact building principal, your child’s teacher, and/or the school counselor or school psychologist ◼ Know the schools bullying policies and procedures
Cyberbullying – What to Do Block/delete the person; do not respond ⬜ Save the messages to share with an adult ⬜ If the cyberbullying is impacting the child at ⬜ school, inform school staff Put parental controls in place on electronic ⬜ devices Check your child’s devices regularly and know ⬜ your child’s passwords
Legal Implications When it’s reported to police ⬜ ◼ Speak with all involved ◼ Verbal warning ◼ Citation/referral Wisconsin Statute ⬜ ◼ If someone doesn’t stop after spoken to, they may be charged with the following; ▫ 947.1025 Unlawful use of a computerized communication system ▫ 947.01 Disorderly Conduct ▫ 947.013 Harassment
Mental Health and Bullying For children and adolescents depression, ⬜ substance abuse, risk taking, and aggressive behaviors are the most common negative results of bullying Who is at risk? ⬜ ◼ Victims and Bullies are BOTH at risk for mental health problems ◼ Those most at risk are students who are BOTH a victim and a bully. ◼ Children with multiple incidents of bullying or have also experienced other traumas are at greater risk for poor mental health outcomes related to bullying
How to Help Most bullying experts view bullying as a problem ⬜ with multiple layers ◼ Society ▫ Messages from the media, sports, and so on. ◼ Community ▫ The culture of a child’s school, sports teams, other organizations ◼ Relationship ▫ A student’s relationships to others such as parents and classmates. ◼ Individual ▫ An individual student’s ability to cope with stressors and utilize problem solving skills.
How to help - Society Talk with your child about aggression they see ⬜ in the media and sports Limit exposure to violent and aggressive ⬜ media ◼ Process with your child the aggression they do see Expose your child to happy and positive news ⬜ events. Highlight cooperation amongst individuals and communities ◼ Example: communities helping after natural disasters
How to help - Community Get involved in school anti-bullying programs ⬜ Have your whole family volunteer at events at ⬜ school or through other organizations ◼ Emphasize that your family and others must work together to make fun activities happen ◼ Supervision by adults greatly reduces incidents of bullying, particularly physical bullying Have your child participate in positive, ⬜ community-oriented activities ◼ Church and other organizational activities ◼ Volunteering with programs that serve others
How to help - Relationship Birds of a feather flock together – Peer groups ⬜ often develop similar levels of tolerance for bullying ◼ Encourage your children to develop friendships with other peers who do not participate in bullying and DO participate in positive, cooperative activities Get to know your child’s friends ⬜ Talk to your children AND their friends about ⬜ bullying
How to help - Relationship Take care of yourself! ⬜ ◼ Stress makes you less capable of helping your child with their stress ◼ Modeling healthy coping strategies helps your child learn those same healthy habits Make sure your child knows they can talk to ⬜ you about bullying and peer aggression anytime Encourage positive relationships between ⬜ your child and their teacher or other school official
How to help - Relationship Listen carefully and without distractions ⬜ See the situation from your child’s perspective. ⬜ Let them know you see their perspective, and that you take it seriously ◼ What may seem like a minor problem to adults (e.g. name calling) may be a much bigger deal to your child Offer to help, but also let your child practice ⬜ their problem solving skills by coming up with their own solutions
How to help - Individual Children who are bullied may feel powerless, and ⬜ focus more on bad things that happen to them than good things, leading to depression ⬜ Build up your child’s strengths ⬜ Build up their confidence in their ability to be successful Children who are victims of peer aggression may ⬜ start to view all others or neutral situations as aggressive, leading them to be aggressive as well or turn inward and become depressed ⬜ Help them view isolated incidents and individual people as the minority of their interactions by highlighting people who are good to them
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