North Penn Schools Address National Bullying Prevention Month

LANSDALE, PA — In commemoration of National Bullying Prevention Month in October, the North Penn School District is one of several local districts getting students involved in anti-bullying activities.

On Oct. 7, Pennsdale Middle School students all wore blue t-shirts to stand together symbolically against bullying.

That was part of the 12th annual World Day of Bullying Prevention, as students in schools around the world joined in wearing blue.

The middle school's climate coordinator, Dana Kenney, also created a presentation for students based on the national nonprofit, Stomp Out Bullying. The organization teaches solutions and raises awareness through educational materials, peer mentoring programs, public service announcements from celebrities, and various other social media campaigns.

Hatfield Elementary hosts a yearly week-long spirit week, which focuses on "communicating positive anti-bullying messages."

In the past, North Penn has had public programs for the larger school community on this issue, such as a series of anti-bullying presentations from John Halligan, whose 13-year-old son died by suicide in 2003 after being bullied by classmates.

In 2018, all 13 elementary schools worked with the DA's Office and county detectives on a cyber bullying prevention presentation. Four schools hosted those presentations last October.

And as recently as last May, the district was polling the public on the student experience and incidents of bullying. It's clearly an issue of which North Penn, as well as schools in the surrounding area, is all too aware.

Few in the local education community can forget the 2017 tragedy at Spring-Ford, when a freshman student who had been bullied online took her own life.

But the problem goes far beyond the suburbs of Philadelphia.

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.

The studies cited by the PACER Center, which established National Bullying Prevention Month, show that 15 percent of kids surveyed report being cyberbullied, while around 35 percent of students had been bullied in more "traditional," in-person ways.

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: