Orange-Clad Port Washington Schools Take Aim At Bully Menace

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — Unlike generations past, bullying no longer ceases once kids leave the classroom. While social media has allowed for people to connect with their peers like never before, it also opened up Pandora's box for bullying, both deliberate and unintended.

That's why Port Washington schools are once again joining numerous other districts nationwide Wednesday in celebrating "Unity Day," Thousands of students, faculty and staff members will don orange shirts and wristbands to take a stand against bullying and promote kindness, tolerance and inclusion.

In other words, don't be surprised to see a bunch of orange throughout town, including along Campus Drive.

As Patch previously reported, a startling number of young people who are bullied take their own lives. And for others, the immediate, searing pain leads them to retreat into isolation.

As many as 160,000 kids stay home from school each day to avoid bullies and one in four students in grades six through 12 experience bullying in some form, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In high school, one in five students are bullied.

Around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the entire school district as well as many members of the community will come together on the field of Paul D. Schreiber High School to celebrate Unity Day in what is one of the largest events of the year. Sports teams, clubs, students and staffers will lead an hour-long walk with signs, orange t-shirts and songs in celebration.

Many people will wear orange t-shirts with the messages "Unity In The Community" and "The End Of Bullying Begins With Me." The kick line and cheerleaders will perform, as will the football team.

"They'll do everything from taking a big picture of a peace sign to making unity rocks, kindness rocks," Stephanie Joannon, director of health, physical education and athletics for the district and co-chair of the safety and substance abuse task force, told Patch on Tuesday. "The whole day is about being kind to each other."

The district wants everyone to wear orange. Knowing that not everyone has an orange shirt, roughly 9,000 silicone wristbands will be passed out to students, teachers and staff members. Each year the wristbands say something different. This year's message: "Kindness counts. Choose kind."

Posters will be hung with kindness quotes and the morning announcements will feature a similar theme, Joannon said.

"It's really a great thing that our district embraces," she said. "We're looking to get it out into the community in the coming years."

Joannon noted that anti-bullying efforts are crucially important in today's society. Bullying is amplified by social media, but people are also more aware of it and doing something about it.

"I think social media has changed a lot of the way we interact with each other," she said. "It used to be face to face and now people hide behind a screen and really are not dealing with any ramifications. They aren't seeing what's happening on the other side and have their own feelings when they're writing things."

This, she said, makes events like Unity Day all the more important.

"We live in times that people, in the age of social media, sometimes don't realize what they're writing versus what they're saying," she said. "We want to raise awareness that people should be kind to one another."

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 and a child's unthinkable decision to end their own life in hopes we might offer solutions that save lives.

Do you have a story to tell? Are you concerned about how your local schools handle bullies and their victims?

Email us at bullies@patch.com and share your views in the comments.

Selected Stories From The Project

• Bullied To Death: When Kids Kill With Words
• Teen Died By Suicide; Bullying Over Sexuality Killed Him: Mom
• Sports Bullying: ESPN Donates More Than $1M To Combat It
• Social Media Apps Parents Should Know
• Teen Bullied, Outed As Bisexual Takes His Life
• America's Shameful Truth About School Shooters And Bullying
• Cyberbullying Most Often Affects Girls; These Women Are Trying To Stop It
• Survivor Of Bullying And Suicide Writes Frankly About Both
• Girl-To-Girl Bullying: Why It's Different, Difficult To Confront
• The Menace Of Bullies: Most U.S. States Take On Cyberbullying
• Girls More Likely Than Boys To See Bullying As Harmful: Study
• 'The Hero Myth': Why Expecting Kids To Fight Bullies Is Harmful
• 'Mr. Anti-Bully': Reformed Bully, 12, Sets Mistake Right
• Why These Kindergartners Start Each Day With A Handshake
• The Bully Menace: 'The Hurt Never Goes Away'
• Bullying Tougher To Confront When It's Bias-Based: Researchers
• The Bully Menace: 13 Age-Appropriate Reads

From No Bully, Patch News Partner

• 5 Things Students Can Do To Prevent Bullying
• School Shootings: Eradicating Bullying Must Be Part Of Safety Plan
• Eradicating Bullying: Progress On Creating Bully-Free Environment
• Is Screen Time Hurting My Child?
• Preschool Children: Online And Dangerous
• What Every Young Child Needs To Know About Being Online
• Patch Partners With No Bully To Help Eradicate Bullying
• Meet 14-Year-Old CEO On Mission To Spread Kindness, Stop Bullying
• Meet Talen And Cooper, 2 Upstanders Demonstrating Kindness
• Cyberbullying Is Now A Crime In Michigan: Is Criminalizing A Good Idea?
• Hitting A Homerun With Kindness With The Phillies

From The Experts

• 'The Anti-Bully': Talk And, Especially, Listen To Your Kids
• The Bully Menace: Patch Experts Offer Tips To Parents
• Anti-Bully Experts Offer Tips On Sometimes Deadly Encounters
• Understanding The Bully: They're Often Victims, Too, Experts Say

What We've Learned

• 10 Key Takeaways From Patch’s The Menace Of Bullies Series
• The Bully Menace: What Patch Has Learned About Bullying