One Voice Bullying Prevention School Climate Primary Prevention Presented by Brian Koenig, M.S. K12 Associates, LLC Copyright 2013

Bullying Prevention Since Columbine  1999 Tragedy Prompted a National Focus  Since Then Hundreds of New Programs and Products  Still No Clear Model to Prevent Bullying  Families, Students and Community Members Expect More Than a Partial Solution  Schools and Students At Risk  Legal  Wasted Teaching Time  Student Torment and Sometimes Tragedy

Why So Little Progress?  Most Bullying Goes Unseen by Adults  Tough to Intervene  Kids are More Influenced by Other Kids  Best Practices Out-the-Window in Real Life Drama  Students Don’t Trust Adult Intervention  Lack of Reporting  Structures at School are Bullying “Friendly”  Bus rides, playgrounds, hallways, locker rooms  Adults Preach One Approach, Practice Another  Unintentionally Ignore Bullying or Bully

Current Prevention Strategies Inherently Limiting  Students Motivated by Self Interest  Safety  Friendships  Status  Bullying Prevention Skills, Nice But Not Necessary  Training of Students Uneven  Maintenance Equally Uneven

Powerful Bullying Influences Too Much For Students to Fix

Two Simple Goals  Most Bullying Prevention Focuses on Student Attitudes and Behavior  But Design of the School Day Overpowers Student Skills  Two Simple Goals  Reduce the number of situations where students alone make the rules.  Change the circumstances so positive behavior is the easiest choice.

New Mindset  Current Mindset  Stuff happens at school. Kids need to learn how to avoid bullies, intervene in bullying incidents, stay away from unsafe places.  This is the nature of school.  New Mindset  Anything unsafe about school we must do our best to change.  Adults create the school climate not kids.

Keeping School Safe What Adults Must Do Social Emotional Skill Building Model Behaviors Keep a Safe Physical Environment

Unsafe Places Most Bullying Occurs Here  Student Managed Space – Recipe for Trouble  Low/no supervision  Scarce resource  No guided activity (nothing to do)  Waiting  Examples  School bus seating  Lunchroom seating  Isolated areas on the playground  Lining up

Keeping Spaces Safe  Environmental Assessment  Observation and report  Paraprofessional and bus driver focus groups  Student focus groups  Improve opportunities for student reporting  More supervision  Be intentional about personal space  Less crowding  Less waiting  More guided activity and structure

Modeling Positive Behavior  Motto: Kids do what we do, not what we tell them.  Positive problem solving language for adults  What do my comments communicate to the student  My language during conflict  Scripted comments that de-escalate trouble  Discuss age appropriate feedback for students  Build self awareness of adult responses to conflict

Student Social Emotional Skills  Problem solving strategies during conflict  Role playing in the classroom  Strategies to ward off bullying behavior  Meshes with Conscious Discipline (Becky Bailey) strategy, only with youth not adults.  Resource: Second Step Bullying Prevention by the Committee for Children