The Tabernacle Sun
Under the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, Tabernacle schools were required to complete a self-assessment of how they are doing in the prevention of bullying.
“We are happy to say that we met or exceeded the requirement in all eight core elements under the Anti-Bullying Act,” Superintendent George Rafferty said at a Board of Education meeting on May 20.
The eight core elements of The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act outline a number of different tactics for schools to enact to stop bullying. Staff training, parent outreach, student awareness, and HIB (harassment intimidation bullying) programs are just some of policies schools must have in place.
In the Tabernacle school district, there have been five confirmed cases of HIB this year. Rafferty said the success the school has seen was because of a specific anti-bullying program formulated by the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.
The program is used at the school, classroom and individual levels and includes methods to reach out to parents and the community for involvement and support. School administrators, teachers and other staff are primarily responsible for introducing and implementing the program with the purpose of improving peer relations and making the school a safer and more positive place for students to learn and develop.
Kristin Pasani, a teacher at OMS and appointed anti-bullying specialist, spoke to the success the school has seen from the implementation of Olweus.
“The program puts an emphasis on relationship building between students as well as between teachers and students,” Pasani said.
Students from both Tabernacle Elementary and Olson Middle schools were in attendance at May’s board meeting. The children made presentations on why they feel bullying is being prevented. Every student attributed the success to a new program called “morning meeting.” Every morning, the children greet each other in a different way, then meet as a group to discuss what is happening in their life, school related or not. Students are encouraged to discuss issues they may have with each other in an open setting.
“Getting to know” is an activity that allows one student each week to bring in an item or tell a story about himself or herself every day. “Newsfeeds” are individual bulletin boards that allow the students to update what they are doing each day. The feeling is that the more the kids learn about each other, the more they find in common and there is less cause for bullying to occur.
Rafferty is happy with the success the schools have seen thus far but knows there is still room for improvement. The data from the survey will be used in further improving and developing the policies the board has in place.
“With this information, and with more training in the future, we will be able to continue to improve our schools and the experience our children have,” Rafferty said.
