Don't Let Bullying Divide Us

The community of Frankfort, IL is facing a challenging yet solvable issue. In recent days, we have heard about bullying in our schools. Bullying is wrong, plain and simple. But unfortunately, it exists in Frankfort just as it exists in other communities. As parents it is our job to protect our children from harm, to teach them about right and wrong, and to provide them with the very best opportunities to learn and grow. When we feel as though our children are being harmed or are not being provided a safe and productive learning environment at school, it is upsetting and frustrating. One of the reasons many of us moved to Frankfort is due to excellent public school system. We have terrific schools filled with teachers and administrators who are committed to providing the very best educational experience for our children with the very best resources available. But we must remember that even at the best schools, there are challenges and there will be bullying. It’s how we handle those situations, both from a parents perspective and from a teacher/school administrator perspective, that will define us. We should all take this opportunity as parents to talk to our children about bullying and how harmful it is for everyone involved. We should also teach our children that there will be times in life where things will happen that are unfair, unjust or just plain wrong. This is a reality of life that we must all deal with and we should teach our children to be strong and stand up for themselves and/or avoid those who are just not nice. At the same time, the Frankfort school district should remind the community about their position against bullying, on how they have processes and systems set up to deal with reports of bullying head-on, about how there are anti-bullying signs all over the schools, and about how the teachers and administrators are trained on looking out for bullying and taking appropriate steps to deal with bullying situations. The schools district can remind the community about all this without compromising the privacy of its students. Let’s not let this issue divide our community. Rather, let’s all learn from this experience and become better and stronger for it. Our community is known for being a great place to raise a family. It’s up to all of us, parents and teachers/school administrators, to do the hard work, to work through issues together with passion, patience and tact, and to move forward collectively as one great community.