Schools To Add Bullying Response to Handbook

The State of Massachusetts is bullying the town of Concord to come up with a "bullying prevention and intervention plan" by the new year in order to "create more positive school climates and prevent as much bullying as possible," according to information provided by the Concord Public schools.  

Director of Teaching and Learning at Concord Public Schools and Concord-Carlisle Regional School District Kathy Codianne who is in charge of implementing the program said that while kids sometimes do things without thinking, most kids want to do the right thing when it comes to their relationship with others.

Codianne said that the program would educate kids about inappropriate behavior that they might consider and provide them with the proper way to act in different situations. She said that in K-8 kids would be taught how to be an "upstander" in their schools.

"Kindness is always within our power," said Codianne, who added that she hoped the program would help teach students to be mindful of others.

She said that students would also be aided by the strong relationship they had with teachers and administrators and that this would help resolve many of the personal conflicts between students. She said that bullying also posed a challenge to teachers when it arose and that in the moment it was often hard for teachers faced with such a situation to come up with the best solution to fix a personal dispute. Codianne said that teachers and other front line personnel would recieve further training so that they would know what to say in these type of situations.

"We all have to have something in place [to handle this situation]," said Codianne.

Massachusetts schools must provide age-appropriate instruction for students in each grade on bullying which must be incorporated into the school's curriculum. Information must also be provided to parents on bullying prevention.

All school staff are required to promptly report bullying when they witness it or become aware of it. According to the town of Concord,  a school principal must investigate incidents and reports of bullying and take immediate disciplinary action if appropriate.

Professional development courses on bullying are required for teachers beginning in the 2010-11 academic year. The bill additionally  provides protection against retaliation for anyone who reports bullying.

The goal of the program is not to make everyone best friends, said Codianne, but to prevent kids from following their first instinct which might be hurting back when they come into conflict with other children, which Codianne thinks will make the situation worse, not better.

The law defines bullying as such things as "creating a hostile environment at school for the bullied student" and "infringing on the rights of the other student at school." The law prohibits students from bullying at school related events and even "non-school-related locations and through non-school technology or electronic devices" as long as the bullying affects the school environment, although this is not specifically defined.

Schools must have strategies for protecting those who report bullying. They are also obligated to contact parents of those involved in bullying and render approproate services to the bully and their victims in order to remediate the situation.