BULLYING: WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW BY Kiel Area School District - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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

• ver 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

• f 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 behavior

⬜

Equal power or are friends

⬜

Happens occasionally

⬜

Accidental

⬜

Not serious

⬜

Equal emotional reaction

⬜

Not seeking power

⬜

Remorse-will take responsibility

⬜

Effort to solve the problem Bullying

⬜

Imbalance of power

⬜

Repeated negative actions

⬜

Intentional

⬜

Physical or emotional harm

⬜

Unequal emotional reaction

⬜

Seeking control/material things

⬜

No remorse-blames target

⬜

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-8th 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

• rganizations

◼ 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

• ften 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

• fficial

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

• r 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

How to help - Individual

⬜

Teach your child ways to cope with anger and peer conflict constructively

◼ Relaxation exercises ◼ Conflict resolution, compromise

⬜

Encourage your child to talk to their friends as well as adults

◼ Peer mediation and support has been shown to reduce

the negative impact of bullying

⬜

Individual therapy

◼ can help develop coping skills for both parent and child ◼ Provides a safe, confidential space to talk about bullying

Kiel High School Counseling Website

⬜

http://www.kiel.k12.wi.us/high/HS_Guidance. cfm

◼ Links to various resources for self-help and other

important information!

QUESTIONS?