Community Learns How to Prevent Bullying at Head Start Workshop

Patrick Shea, Chief Operating Officer of the Newport Community School and Jessica Walsh, Director of Prevention at The Woman’s Resource Center, spoke last night at a special workshop on bullying. The workshop was in response to the growing bullying trend and students and parents who have trouble coping with the situation.

The workshop, sponsored by East Bay Community Action group Head Start, was organized by Masters of Social Work students form Rhode Island College as a part of their policy class final project on social action. The students said they hope to help implement a consistent anti-bullying curriculum within the Rhode Island School system.

Sara Rodriguez, an RIC master program student, said, “all schools in Rhode Island have some form of bullying policy, but it would help if it were all consistent.”

According to StopBullyingRI.com, the recently introduced Safe Schools Act provides legislation that will call for development of a unified statewide policy that will include prohibitions against bullying, cyber-bullying and retaliation; procedures for students, staff, parents, guardians and others to report bullying; procedures for responding to and investigating reports of bullying, and a range of disciplinary actions that may be taken against a perpetrator for bullying.*

Walsh spoke about the cycle of bullying, which, by definition is, "an aggressive behavior that involves unwanted negative action and is a pattern of behavior repeated over time that involves and imbalance of power and strength."

“This is not something that just happens at the middle, junior or high school level. This starts as early as pre-school," said Jill Harris, also of RIC.

Shea said the most important part of the process of dealing with a bullying situation is communication.

"Let [your children] know that it is okay to talk about what is happening. Establish trust, whether it is with a parent, teacher or coach, the most important thing for a child to feel is that they are safe."

The position of a bully doesn't come from low self-esteem, but from "overinflated ego and sense of entitlment," Walsh said.

It is the duty of the parent "to teach coping skills," Shea added. "You bring a child into this world and that means a certain sense of responsibility, and that is your job as a parent."

As part of the presentation, the speakers provided the following statistics:

• One in four children are bullied at school.
• One in three admit to being a part of it.
• 56% of students have personally witnessed some form of bullying at school.
• 15% of all absences are directly related to fears of being bullied.
• Children who identify as "being or feeling different" are up to 60% more likely to be bullied than other children.
• Every 7 minutes, a child is bullied on a school playground with over 80% of these instances occuring without any intervention.

For more information about bullying, visit StopBullyingNow!, Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Guide Sourcebook For Community Action, National Youth Violence Protection Resource Center and Teaching Tolerance.