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GREENCASTLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION

DEFEND, SUPPORT, REPORT! By Dawn Puckett, Superintendent of Schools, Greencastle Community School Corporation

This is the third of a series of four articles to be published in 2016 that feature Greencastle Community School Corporation.

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he responsibility for educating our children continues to broaden in scope to include so much more than academics. Schools carry the burden of providing for physical and mental health, social adjustment, and emotional well-being. At a time when our nation perceives bullying to have become an epidemic, the accountability for schools to address the problem has become the expectation of communities everywhere. This article, the third in the series of 2016 for Greencastle Community School Corporation (GCSC), highlights the bullying prevention program in our district. Nearly eight years ago, long before the state mandated bullying prevention instruction, GCSC utilized grant money to establish a program at Greencastle Middle School (GMS) based on the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). The program was founded in the research of a professor of psychology who pioneered bullying research and evaluated his program through five large-scale projects showing significant reductions in bullying incidents and anti-social behavior. GMS Counselor Helen Dunn describes the program as “a school-wide initiative that improves peer relations to create a safer school environment for all students.” It works at four levels: school, classroom, individual, and community. Everyone in the school corporation is trained to know the definition of bullying, the role of the bystander, and what to do when bullying occurs. At GMS, the program takes the form of weekly lessons and discussions in every classroom with peer-created videos from the tireless Student Relations Committee. Topics include race, gossip, disability awareness, and selfesteem. All students and staff learn the four rules of bullying prevention that set the culture of acceptance, kindness, and responsibility. In addition, teachers nominate a boy and girl from each grade level to receive monthly character awards. These awards encourage students to strive toward being good citizens and highlight the qualities needed to create a safe school environment. Since the Olweus program initiation in 2008, GMS has seen big improvements. Data shows the percentage of students and teachers who intervene with bullying situations has doubled, and the percentage of both girls and boys who bullied another student decreased four-fold. Students who thought they could join in with bullying decreased from 30 to 10 percent. These figures are taken from the standardized survey administered annually to monitor program progress. Additional data from the school’s pre- and post-test show the percentage of students who master the Olweus curriculum content to be over ninety percent.” A major component in the success of the GMS Bullying Prevention Program has been their long-time Student Relations Committee. Counselor Kathi Asbell, who guides the student committee reports,

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Tzouanakis Intermediate School hosted a school-wide team building day entitled Let’s Band Together this Year! Teams created class mission statements and banners and rotated through stations supporting cooperation, problem solving, communication and empathy.

“SRC members have been the eyes and ears of the student body since the inception of this program; sharing the message of anti-bullying and kindness through the Olweus Bully Prevention program. The SRC students brainstorm an issue facing our students at Greencastle Middle School. They think about how the issue ties in to the current Olweus lesson, then they prepare the script and film the video. Over the years, SRC members have covered issues ranging from friendship, racism, and privilege to hygiene, internet safety, and digital citizenship. It’s a great honor to serve on this student committee.” One of the videos created by the GMS SRC can be viewed at the following link: https://goo.gl/ ZZ2isP.

80% OF THE STUDENTS NO LONGER TAKE PART IN BULLYING AND THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE REPORTED BEING BULLIED HAS DECLINED MARKEDLY.

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The success of the Olweus program at GMS led to the extension of the program to Tzouanakis Intermediate School (TZ). Following the training of all staff members to recognize bullying and to intervene effectively if it occurs, the school began hosting weekly classroom meetings where students and their adult team leader discuss a variety of topics including friendship, trust, responding to bullying, and conflict. The team building component was further strengthened in 2015 when TZ hosted a school-wide team building day entitled Let’s Band Together this Year! Teams created class mission statements and banners and rotated through stations supporting cooperation, problem solving, communication, and empathy. The data from the annual Olweus survey at TZ show that 80% of the students no longer take part in bullying and the percentage of students who have reported being bullied has declined markedly as well. The natural growth of our bullying prevention program as students progressed from GMS to Greencastle High School (GHS) laid a strong foundation for student understanding and even an expectation for a culture rooted in anti-bullying beliefs. The Olweus program was established for students through grade eight and research shows that students in high school are the least likely to report bullying incidents, so our Olweus trained guidance counselor, Bill Smith, has helped to structure a program for the high school that blends the Olweus training students have received through their earlier years of school with the developmental needs and concerns of older students.

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Counselor Smith explains the GHS program: “So any high school that promotes a program that focuses on the bully or the victims exclude the most powerful resource to reduce bullying behavior in the school; the bystander. At the high school we are trying to create a culture in which students who observe bullying feel a responsibility to intervene or report. In fact most of our information about bullying situations comes from bystander students who observed a bullying incident. In this culture the focus is about human dignity and treating people with respect. It is a culture in which we are responsible for those who cannot defend themselves against the words and physical taunts of bullies. This is a culture in which differences between students is replaced by the commonality we all share. It is indeed about treating everyone better and lifting each other up instead of tearing people down. Admittedly, this is an ideal we strive to move toward. It is student driven by the many student leaders from different groups and clubs that have this goal as an underlying theme. Not only can bystanders help change the norm for bullying in our building climate, they also work to raise people up, reinforce each other’s self-worth in a positive and supportive way. To help achieve this goal and allowing for the lack of victim reporting we have an anonymous bullying hotline that anyone can call. We protect the identity of bystanders that come forward by using verbiage such as ‘It has been reported by students and staff members that you have engaged in bullying behavior.’ We also have a bi-annual Active Bystander training for high school students which is presented in partnership with Putnam County Family Support Services.

Local industry and businesses were also provided flyers and posters on addressing bullying, and the District Committee offered communitywide meetings for everyone to attend to learn about addressing bullying as a community.

As part of our teaching trainings of all certified and uncertified staff, we have the whole building participate in a bullying laws, policy, and reporting procedures presentation during School Resource Time early in the school year. As a result of these efforts, we have students who openly intervene when they see bullying that logically are the results of our bystander initiative as the center piece of our bully prevention program and the Olweus bully prevention programs that exist at our intermediate and middle

The first GCSC Bullying Prevention contest for student display depicting the district’s philosophy against bullying featured an actual photo of a student and highlighted the motto of the district to “Defend! Support! Report!” Artwork of Greencastle High School student, Brynne Shuee, (shown above right) was showcased on a billboard during National Bullying Prevention Month.

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The artwork of GCSC primary students was particularly compelling in their efforts to promote the district’s bullying prevention philosophy.

Each year, GCSC students participate in a contest to represent our bullying prevention philosophy in artwork that can be displayed throughout the school and community.

school. At the high school, our focus is on empowering the bystanders and giving them an environment in which they can feel safe and supported in their role.” The efforts to change the mindset of our students soon eventually expanded beyond the walls of the school. The District Bullying Prevention Committee organized a community-wide initiative that included youth leaders, ministers, mental and social health workers, and city officials to carry the message promoted in the school system into the community. Through these relationships, our Olweus-trained counselors were able to reach into the community and provide training to youth leaders on identifying bullying and how to address it. Local industry and businesses were also provided flyers and posters on addressing bullying and the District Committee offered community-wide meetings for everyone to attend to learn about addressing bullying as a community. The culmination of our efforts to include all of the community in our bullying prevention program was a proclamation from the mayor announcing a Community Bullying Prevention Week in

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“…WE ARE CONSTANTLY INTERMINGLING AND INTERCONNECTED. WE KEEP PEOPLE INCLUDED AND WE EMBRACE HAPPY MOMENTS WE ALL MAKE TOGETHER.” – Jessica Roberts, 2016 Greencastle H.S. Salutatorian

Greencastle. Using the mission identified through student input, the motto of Defend! Support! Report! enveloped the town on bumper stickers, tee shirts, posters, and even a billboard. The entire community celebrated our efforts to eliminate bullying with a concert featuring various local musicians and punctuated with bullying prevention videos created by students throughout the district. The powerfully moving video produced by our high school students can be viewed online at the following link: https://goo.gl/SVdbHR. Each year, our students participate in a contest to represent our bullying prevention philosophy in artwork that can be displayed throughout the school and community. The local Teacher’s Credit Union funds the billboard which displays the student’s winning artwork. The cultural effects of the bullying prevention programs were best summarized in the 2016 graduation speech of Salutatorian Jessica Roberts who said, “We’re not like the stereotypical schools that we see in the movies that have certain cliques like the ‘jocks’ who always pick on the ‘nerds.’ No, instead we are constantly intermingling and interconnected. We keep people included and we embrace happy moments we all make together.”

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