Local Schools Host Week Of Respect For Bullying Prevention Month

SOMERSET COUNTY, NJ — We hope you’ve noticed over the past year that we’ve been focusing on bullying and cyberbullying, a confounding national crisis that turns youths’ lives upside down with unimaginable angst and dread, sometimes with deadly consequences. With each story, we’ve heard poignant stories from Patch readers in New Jersey and others who were bullied and overcame it, but also many who continue to struggle with the damage done by bullies to their self-esteem.

Many common threads emerged in emails from our readers: Teachers and other educators have suggested everything from first-period decompression time to classroom contracts with students on how they’re expected to treat one another. But for all the readers who said schools need to do more to foster an anti-bullying culture, as many said parents should talk more with their kids about bullying and keep closer track on their social media habits.

And in a loud chorus, they said Americans need to stop wringing their hands and work at all levels to create a world safe from bullying.

That’s one of the purposes of National Bullying Prevention Month, observed annually during October to bring attention to the problem and involve people in Somerset County and nationwide in a conversation on how to create a world safe from bullying.

Hillsborough Schools' Week Of Respect

"During the first week in October, all Hillsborough schools will recognize the “Week of Respect.” Our students will spend time learning about character education, as well as participating in age-appropriate activities that focus on preventing harassment, intimidation or bullying (HIB). In addition to school assemblies, information will be shared over morning announcements, guidance lessons will be introduced in classrooms, and more," said Hillsborough School spokeswoman Kia Bergman.

Each of the district’s elementary school counselors will be visiting classrooms throughout the month of October to conduct anti-bullying lessons. Some schools will have school spirit days with themes such as “Wear Your Favorite Socks Day” to stomp out bullying and “Wear Your Team Shirt or Team Colors” to signify a way of Teaming Up Against Bullying. Morning announcements will focus on different forms of respect including respecting yourself, others, the environment and more.

Triangle Elementary, Woodfern Elementary and Woods Road Elementary School will host a assembly presented by the Bound for Greatness organization which focuses on character education. The assembly will feature either a former NFL or Arena Football League player who will share with students ways to promote team building, respect, and healthy friendships. Amsterdam Elementary will hold the school’s Character Education Kick-Off Rally. Hillsborough Elementary School’s fourth grade School Safety Patrol members will present an assembly that will focus on treating all with respect, demonstrating what respect looks and sounds like, and providing anti-bullying messages to the entire school.

The highlight of the Week of Respect at Auten Road Intermediate School will be assemblies for both grade levels. The sixth grade student assembly, “Dynamic Influences,” will focus on bullying and positive peer relations. Fifth graders will see a presentation performed by The George Street Playhouse titled “New Kid” about accepting differences in one another.

Warren Schools' Week Of Respect

All Warren Township Schools will celebrate a “Week of Respect”, from Oct. through Oct. 5.

Character Education is a learning process that promotes good character and a positive school environment. Throughout the 'Week of Respect', each School Counselor will visit every classroom to communicate the importance of a bully-free environment and the significance of being respectful to one another.

To further enhance the sentiment of the “Week of Respect”, each school will have daily activities for students to participate in.

• Each school has scheduled theme days where students are invited to represent that theme through their clothing, some examples include the following:
• Tied Together by Respect, all students are invited to wear a scarf or necktie.
• Red, White, and Blue Day, all students are invited to wear red, white, and blue to show unity in following anti-bullying rules.
• Mismatched Clothing Day, all students are invited to wear mismatched clothing to demonstrate individual uniqueness.
• Wear a hat Day, to put a cap on bullying.
• All students are invited to wear bright colors.
• Each school will have many lessons, activities and presentations throughout the week, examples can be found below:
• Woodland students will be constructing a Kindness Tree. Each student will be recognized for acts of kindness and respect by adding a leaf to the tree with their name on it. The goal is to see how many kindness leaves can be added to the school wide kindness tree.
• Middle School students will view a Character Education presentation during their Guide period on Friday, October 5, for all grades. The goal of the presentation is to shift attitudes regarding bullying and empower students to stand up to bullying behavior.
• ALT students will receive morning announcements on the importance of respect as well as motivational music upon arrival each morning to encourage R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
• Mt. Horeb students will participate in Super Hero Day to understand the true meaning of a HERO, Helping Everyone Respect Others!
• Central students can visit the Respect Station during recess each day to participate in many different activities to promote kindness and respect. A dice game called Roll and Respond about Respect as well as arts and craft activities will be offered.

Pingry Schools' Core Values, Advisory Group Activities

"You may know that Pingry has an honor code — it is a student-created code that began in 1926, and remains keenly relevant and active in our community today. You can read more about the code here — it inspires our approach to student attitudes and behavior, and frames our programming in a distinctly positive way," said Dale Seabury spokeswoman for Pingry School.

"Another core value of the School is our commitment to diversity and inclusion — this, along with honor and character, represent two of the four guiding pillars of Pingry's philosophy. Our diversity and inclusion mission statement can be found here, and it, too, inspires our approach to student programming, which is far more than anti-bullying in its focus, but certainly not less," Seabury said.

In terms of specific programming, throughout October, Middle School students in Grades 6 through 8 are engaging in advisory group programming that explores what it means to live in community and how to resolve conflicts in healthy, respectful ways. Specifically, Grade 6 students are engaging in multi-day sessions on empathy and the power of their words: the power of positive words to build people up and of negative words to tear people down. In Grade 7, students are about to begin the year-long work of crafting their own personal moral codes while also bringing to life concepts from Pingry's Honor Code, namely ideas of community (the "common good") and personal integrity. Grade 8 students are commencing their exploration of leadership, learning to recognize the potential world-changing power of their own positive influence and looking to courageous, outspoken leaders like Malala Yousefzai for inspiration.

In addition, given that social media is closely connected with a lot of the bullying that goes on with this generation of students, on Monday, November 5, all Pingry parents are invited to session entitled "Beyond the headlines: Social media and adolescent development" featuring Dr. Emily Weinstein, a research fellow at Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who has been studying how adolescents experience daily life with social media. She will share insights from her research on social media and adolescent well-being.

There is lots more like this going on at Pingry, from "Decisions" classes at the Lower School to the Peer Leadership program in our Upper School.

Bedminster's Week Of Respect

All of Bedminster schools will observe the "Week of Respect" by hosting events each day throughout the week including:

• Monday: Blue Shirt Day World Day of Bullying Prevention: Wear a blue shirt and join in solidarity to stop bullying and cyber bullying
• Tuesday: Start with Hello: Encourage students to introduce themselves to someone new and connect with new people.
• Wednesday: Discuss the "Golden Rule" and explain why it is important to treat others the way we want to be treated. Discuss and record different ways to respect yourself, respect others and respect your school.
• Thursday: Wear an appropiate article of clothing that displays or represents something that is important to you.
• Friday: Discuss the changes that the students wish to see in our community. Brainstorm ideas, write a paragraph or create a poster.

Manville's Week Of Respect

All of Manville's schools will observe the "Week of Respect" by hosting events each day throughout the week including:

• Blue Shirt Day (Official Stomp Out Bullying Day): Wear a blue shirt and help stomp out bullying at Weston
• Be a H.E.R.O: Dress as a favorite superhero and Help Everyone Respect Others. Omegaman & Friends Assembly.
• Mismatch Day: Embrace Diversity of being different and looking different
• Sports Team Jersey Day: Wear a favorite team/sports jersey to show that "we team up against bullying"
• Shine Bright (Too Bright for Bullying): Wear neon colors
• Twin/Triplet Day: Pair up against bullying; dress like someone else at Roosevelt

A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

Once viewed as a childhood “rite of passage” that toughened kids to handle the pressures of adulthood, bullying and its more insidious digital twin, cyberbullying, is seen by many experts as a major public health issue — on par with heart disease, cancer and diabetes — with devastating and often long-term effects like the loss of self-esteem, heightened anxiety and depression.

We want to hear from you. Do you have a story to tell about bullying or cyberbullying, a suggestion about how to stem it or an event to publicize? Comment at the end of the story, or email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com and copy bullies@patch.com. You can post Bullying Prevention Month and many other events right on Patch.

Statistics vary, but an aggregate of 80 different studies on bullying suggests one in five American students between 12 and 18 is bullied at some point during their middle or high school years. Traditional bullying — name calling, public humiliation, isolation, physical violence and that sort of thing — occurs most often, with 35 percent of kids reporting they’ve been targeted in one of those ways. The studies cited by the PACER Center, which established National Bullying Prevention Month, show that 15 percent of kids surveyed report being cyberbullied.

And though it occurs less often, cyberbullying — which has resulted in a disturbing string of suicides by adolescents and teenagers — is especially hard to stop. While experts say most cyberbullied kids don’t kill themselves, the long-tailed internet makes a taunt live longer than one flung on the schoolyard. Kids can escape traditional bullying in the safety of their homes, but because social media is so intertwined with how kids communicate, they never really escape it.

READ: Bullied To Death: When Kids Kill With Words

And because cyberbullies have the stealth of anonymity, “empathy tends to fade to zero,” NoBully.org founder Nicholas Carlisle told Patch.

He was knocked around 40 or so years ago as an awkward 12-year-old. The torment persisted through high school, but as tough as it was, his experience was markedly different from the torture kids endure today, he says — and it’s not just that he was attacked in a physical as opposed to online space.

“Online, you can’t see the whites of their eyes,” Carlisle said. “If you can see someone, that’s often a break upon people’s aggression — not always, but it does seem to have some break upon crossing the line.”

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The full consequences of bullying on the brain aren’t fully understood, but kids who are targeted by bullies in childhood and adolescence are at increased risk for psychological problems that can stretch into adulthood, according to experts. In the moment, bullied kids may be unable to sleep or suffer a range of stomach issues and headaches. Later on, they’re at risk for depression, anxiety, and alcohol and drug use.

OCT. 24 UNITY DAY

Among the marquee National Bullying Prevention Month activities is Unity Day, observed on Wednesday, Oct. 24, when everyone is encouraged to wear and show orange to send a message that no child should ever experience bullying.

“Orange provides a powerful, visually compelling expression of solidarity,” Paula Goldberg, the executive director of the PACER Center, said in a statement. “Whether it’s hundreds of individuals at a school wearing orange, store owners offering orange products or a community changing a landmark to orange, the vibrant statement becomes a conversation starter, sending the supportive, universal message that bullying is never acceptable behavior.”

Here’s more about Unity Day:

THE BULLY MENACE: WHAT’S AHEAD

During October and beyond, several experts have agreed to answer readers’ questions about bullying, ranging from how to keep their kids from becoming targets to what to do if their kids are the bullies. We’ll also delve into some of the issues surrounding bullying —

Take a look back at some of the stories in our series:

• America’s Shameful Truth About School Shooters And Bullying
• They All Failed Changed Child: Malden Bullying Detailed
• Bullies, Their Targets The Same In A Surprising Number Of Cases
• ‘Everyday, I Wear Your Words,’ Teen Tells Bullies In Video
• Teen’s ‘I Wear Your Words’ Video Inspires Nashville Songwriters
• Bullying Of Mallory Grossman, 12, Spelled Out In Wrongful Death Lawsuit
• Poetry Teacher Helps Bullied Kids Open Their Tortured Minds
• Why These Kindergartners Start Each Day With A Simple Handshake

If you have a question or want to share your story, please email bullies@patch.com.

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