I recently caught a Dr. Phil segment focusing on bullying in schools…yes, I was watching Dr. Phil!
Bullying in schools is a serious problem that has escalated to include verbal and cyber harassment, physical beatings, social humiliation and death threats. In several cases, the bullying victims have even resorted to suicide to escape the tormenting of their peers.
On the show, Dr. Phil offered insight and advice on bullying targeted at tween girls. Dr. Phil’s web site offers suggestions on how to launch an anti-bullying campaign with pledges for students, parents, teachers and faculty. An excerpt from the Student Pledge is below:
We the students of ______________________________ agree to join together to stamp out bullying at our school.
We believe that everybody should enjoy our school equally, and feel safe, secure and accepted regardless of color, race, gender, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, religion and nationality.
I acknowledge that whether I am being a bully or see someone being bullied, if I don’t report or stop the bullying, I am just as guilty.
Whether a child is a bullying of victim or just a bystander, there are often several reasons why they are reluctant to tell anyone about it. The child might feel like they will get in trouble if they tell on someone, they may feel threatened by the bully themselves or they may not want to seek any attention. But lessons learned clearly show that if a school does not provide a safe environment, bullying will continue to escalate until it is too late.
What can students, faculty, staff and school administrators do to eliminate bullying in their schools?
Schools need to take proactive steps and implement a comprehensive anti-bullying plan that will connect the dots and ensure that all faculty, school administrators, school security officers, school resource officers, counselors, parents, and students understand their roles and responsibilities for preventing and reacting to a bullying situation.
Schools also need to provide a simple and easy way for students and faculty to report incidents anonymously. By implementing a secure and anonymous incident reporting process, students and faculty will not feel threatened or intimidated when reporting a bully or suspicious incident. School administrators also need to take proactive steps to ensure they are meeting state and federal mandates such as the Clery Act and others that require numerous types of incidents to be reported and documented.
Because bullying is such a serious topic, please take a few moments to see how Awareity’s unique solutions are currently helping schools address these complex and difficult challenges. Visit www.awareity.com.