School district defusing bullying

Brad Smith, 12, left, Harrison Kuuskrere, 11, and Lindsey Ganzert, 11, right, look at a anti- bullying poster in the window of a class room at Markham Middle School Friday. Democrat photo boy Pat Dollins

"Bullying is all about a perceived imbalance of power," said Dr. Nancy Lynch, superintendent of Placerville Union School District. The district has addressed the serious issue of bullying head-on and with clear expectations, according to Lynch.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development reports that bullying,

which peaks during the  middle school years, is experienced by 15 to 25 percent of children in school. It has serious long term and short term effects on children, adolescents and even adults, affecting bullies, victims and bystanders. Bullied students are at high risk for depression and suicide and cyber-bullying is now the fastest growing form of bullying because it can be done anonymously. It has become such a serious issue that the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Steering Committee was developed in 2010 and the first Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, was held in Washington, D.C., this past August.

The Placerville Union School District started addressing the problem through awareness, starting with training school staff  to recognize the various forms of bullying in 2007, then in 2009, training was expanded to all district staff from bus drivers to cafeteria workers who attended a workshop to learn how to recognize bullying and what to do about it. Each school in the district developed a plan for dealing with bullying and the district created a mission statement that is published on its Website.

"The whole staff knows that bullying won't be tolerated and they know what constitutes bullying," said Lynch. "They know it must be reported when it happens."

Parents and students have been included in the awareness loop through newsletters, information on the district Website and classroom instruction. The district developed an "anti-bullying pledge" that all students, parents, teachers and principals sign. It's also signed by community partners like Placerville Mayor Pierre Rivas, Judge James Wagoner, El Dorado County Fire District Chief Bruce Lacher, Sheriff Fred Kollar, Placerville Police Chief George Nielsen, all five members of the Placerville Union School District Board of Trustees and Dr. Lynch. The pledger agrees to treat others respectfully; try to include those who are left out; refuse to watch, laugh or join in when someone is being bullied; help those who are being bullied and tell an adult.

"If there's any bullying behavior, we ask them where their pledge is," said Lynch. "Sometimes they don't recognize what they are doing as bullying until we review the pledge with them. We try to help children who bully develop empathy skills."

Sometimes students don't report bullying, especially when it happens on-line on a home computer.

"Cyber-bullying, if it has repercussions at school and involves students bullying other students, is definitely dealt with at school even though it happens at home, " said Lynch, "and bullying could lead to expulsion."

"We have letters that go home to parents explaining about bullying and how to recognize the signs if your child might be bullied," said Lynch. "Teachers have handbooks full of information, the schools display posters, and last year, our junior board members from Markham took it upon themselves to explain our policy against bullying to the Board of Trustees."

A leadership class at Markham and a bully prevention club in 2009 invited fourth- and fifth-grade students from Schnell School to be part of the group to learn new skills in dealing with bullying.

The concerted plans might be working. Schools in the district started to track instances of bullying and from August through September of 2009, there were 38 behavior referrals and 17 of them were for bullying. This year, in the same two month period, there were only 11 behavior referrals and only five of them were for bullying.

Markham Builder's Club members Lindsay Ganzerg, 11; Brad Smith, 12; and Harrison Kuuskvere, 11, said they had no experience being bullied, bullying others or witnessing another student being bullied. But they know what to do if it happens.

"Tell them to stop and then tell somebody about it," said Brad, "otherwise it will just keep happening."

What if you are too afraid of the bully to say anything?

"Tell another kid and they can tell an adult for you," said Harrison. Lindsay said that they have learned about bullying through assemblies and in class. They have all signed the anti-bullying pledge.

Markham parent Nicky Wenzel said her child who has attended Markham for the past three years told her there has been a positive difference since the anti-bullying program started. Posters made in classes last year still adorn some of the classroom windows at Markham with slogans reading, "Respect is the key," "Bully-free zone —help others," and "Treat others as you want to be treated."

"Students know what social, verbal and physical bullying is and they know it will be addressed," said Lynch.

Contact Wendy Schultz at 530 344-5068 or wschultz@mtdemocrat.net