Bullying Statistics, Strategies, Stories In Summit Schools

SUMMIT, NJ - October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and the Summit School District is getting students involved in stomping out bullying.

The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act requires that the week beginning with the first Monday in October of each year be designated as the Week of Respect in New Jersey.

Summit is participating in the Week of Respect and School Violence Awareness Week. According to Luiz Pereira of the New Jersey State Department of Education, the program offers New Jersey schools an opportunity to concentrate on this effort by delivering age-appropriate instruction to students on these essential topics.

At Summit High School they kicked off the Week of Respect with an announcement getting students to think about what respect means and looks like to them. All students and staff are being asked to stand up against harassment, intimidation, and bullying by wearing blue on Thursday. During lunch, on Thursday the school will recognize those students wearing blue by giving them blue wristbands that promote the stop of bullying as well. The high school will finish off the week with respect and caring music being played during passing time as well as a video clip during the "Week in Review" announcements done by the TV Production students.

In the elementary schools, morning announcements for each school centered around kindness and respect are scheduled. In Franklin Elementary, a bulletin board will have stars with everyone's name to represent the pledge for respect, noting that Franklin shines with kindness and respect.

At Jefferson they will each sign a cut out hand and after they are all collected they will be linked together and displayed in the hall. This is their pledge to work together to show kindness and respect.

At Washington School Choosing Happy is the yearlong theme and respect makes them happy. Students will be discussing how to show respect for themselves and for others in every classroom.

This week they are going to show respect for themselves and others by:

• Learning about showing respect to others during the ThriveThursday lesson
• Creating a work of art for the school community by having everyone draw with sidewalk chalk on the front walkway - pictures of what makes them feel happy (doing things that make them happy means they are treating themselves with kindness and showing ourselves respect).

For Week of Respect at the Wilson and Jefferson Primary Centers students will draw and/or write sentences (depending on their writing ability) on construction paper different ways to respect themselves, others, and/or property. Their tulips will be glued to a large bulletin board with the words :

• When we respect ourselves and others...
• We all grow together

Students and staff will be asked to wear blue, the color of the We're All Wonders book that is being read to students on October 10th.

Teachers will also be delivering the THRIVE Thursday lesson on Oct. 10 (Respecting Differences).

At the middle school, there are spirit week style dress up programs planned.

• Monday: Meme Monday, Make Someone Smile: Dress as your Favorite Meme!
• Tuesday:Respect your Squad: Represent your Favorite Sports Team!
• Thursday:#TBT: ThrowBack Thursday; Kindness is Timeless: Decade Dress!
• Friday: Throw Shade on Bullying: (Advisory Day) WearSunglasses!

In Summit, the programs and activities culminated with a Ryan Halligan Assembly Debrief that was designed to help students focus on helping others. Halligan was a 13-year-old who committed suicide after being bullied by his classmates in person and cyber-bullying online.

Schools in New Jersey have some of the toughest anti-bullying regulations in the country, under the Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights. Schools are required to report all instances of harassment, intimidation and bullying (known as HIB incidents), and provide detailed information about their bullying statistics.

For the 2015-2016 school year, which was the most recently available data, the Summit School District reported seven HIB incidents. The district self-reported that seven of the incidents of bullying had a verbal component, one contained a gesture and three were physical.

Eight of the victims received counseling after the incident. Two of the perpetrators received counseling and seven were included in a parent conference.

You can view the complete report on the website.

The problem isn’t isolated to just New Jersey. National 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.

Among the marquee National Bullying Prevention Month activities is Unity Day, observed on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 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:

Laws In New Jersey

Although New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights is one of the strictest anti-bullying laws in the nation, we could soon see the laws become even more stringent.

"Mallory's Law,"which aims to strengthen the current laws by forcing parental involvement, was recently approved unanimously by the State Senate.

Under the new bill, parents could face civil liabilities if they show "blatant disregard of supervising their child, [or] if their child has been judged to be delinquent of harassment or cyber harassment," a press release says, and parents would be subject to anti-bullying education classes.

The reporting and notification process for bullying incidents would be expanded: any accounts of bullying would be sent to the executive county superintendent and the parents of any students involved.

Any student found guilty of bullying would have the incident placed on their permanent record. After three proven bullying incidents, a student and their parents would be required to attend an anti-bullying training session, and law enforcement would be notified to see if any crimes were committed.

THE MENACE OF BULLIES: PATCH ADVOCACY REPORTING PROJECT

As part of a national reporting project, Patch has been looking at society's roles and responsibilities in bullying.

Do you have a story to tell? Email us at bullies@patch.com, or share your views in the comments.

With reporting by Deb Belt and Katie Kausch, Patch Staff

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 russ.crespolini@patch.com and copy bullies@patch.com.