The Virginian-Pilot
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Efforts aimed to prevent bullying may focus on the lower grades, but a statewide survey of educators says it's the No. 1 safety concern of students at all levels.
About one-third - or 737 - of the state's elementary, middle and high schools asked students to anonymously share their safety concerns. Eighty-three percent of schools reported bullying as the top concern.
Results were highest among middle schools, about 92 percent of which reported bullying as a concern of students. About 83 percent of elementary schools and 77 percent of high schools cited bullying.
Those figures were included in a report of the annual Virginia School Safety Survey, which all 2,002 public schools in the state were required by law to complete. The online survey, last conducted for the 2009-10 school year, asks school- and division-level administrators to share information about their safety policies and practices.
When asked about their chief safety concerns, school administrators listed bullying at the top.
"I'm pretty confident that the rate of bullying hasn't gone up, but awareness has," said University of Virginia education professor Dewey Cornell, one of two people who completed the analysis.
Most bully-prevention efforts are aimed at younger students, Cornell said, but that appears to be changing.
The survey showed that 81 percent of elementary schools, about 86 percent of middle schools and 62 percent of high schools have some type of bullying prevention program. The latter was more likely to have a mentoring or truancy prevention program.
Students may be mentioning bullying because of all the media attention surrounding it, said Richard Ponti, who oversees safety for the Virginia Beach school division. Beach students, especially at the high school level, don't often bring up bullying when the division does its safety audits, Ponti said.
In Suffolk, about 140 people gathered in April at seven schools for an anti-bullying videoconference. They listened to a panel of law enforcement and school representatives speak about the issue.
Kevin Alston, Suffolk's assistant superintendent for administrative services, said that new teachers are required to complete training to recognize aggressive behaviors associated with bullying and that the division has an anonymous tip line where callers can report bullying.
During the conference, a couple of high school students shared their experiences with bullying. One reported that he was bullied because he was short for his age. Another said she was bullied in the sixth grade by someone she was later surprised to find considered her a friend.
Studies show that bullying peaks in middle school and begins to decline once students move on to high school and mature, Cornell said. Bullying doesn't go away completely, he said, but it's a problem teens don't like to talk about.
"It's a lot easier to design a program for younger kids than for older kids who may be more resistant and have other ideas," Cornell said.
Among the school-safety survey's other findings:
- Eighty percent of schools said they use a formal process to assess threats. Administrators and other school officials in Virginia Beach, for example, received training last month on guidelines developed by the University of Virginia.
- Nineteen percent of schools reported activating either a crisis or emergency management plan for non-weather-related emergencies, most often for a crime or other incident occurring off school grounds.
- Forty-two percent of schools check visitors' names against sex offender registry bulletins. Chesapeake, for example, has that type of detection system in all of its schools. Three Beach schools tested a similar ID-scanning system this past school year.
Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com
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Is This News?
Last week, more than 420 youth (14 to 18)from around the country (these were mostly African Americans)came to Hampton Roads and the campus of Norfolk State University for the Lott Carey Missions Youth Seminar. During the week they did good deeds at area homeless shelters, food banks, gleaning fields, senior care facilities, community centers. The rest of the time they met in worship, study and good fellowship. A few days in advance I sent a suggestion to the Va. Pilot hoping that someone would think this worthy of news coverage. It is obvious that this newpaper is more preoccupied with trivia than to highlight the good that our youth do. The next time there is a gang fight it will make the front page.
What is bullying?
Just what does everyone think bulliing is? Is it picking on someone, is it teasing, hazing. Or is it laughing at someone who is considered not "NORMAL", or someone who is not (I hate to say it again) political correct, or is is someone who doesn't accept another's orientation beliefs. Please those of you who know everything, tell me.
I can remember going to school in the 60's/70's...
and those 'bullies' were met by a group of those that were picked upon.
One by one, those bullies stopped acting like such. They're tough when it's one on one...but when it comes to 2, 3, 4, 5 or more against that one bully? Things changed. The number of thugs dropped and life became a lot easier for all.
So! What happened over the past decades that reverted this back to the bully pulpit? Over developed thumbs?
the school administrators would hold the group of bullied
as the agressor and punish them while letting the original bully go free. They claim they are the ones to correct the actions of bullies, not the children themselves. Bullied children cannot go to the school system for help, their parents cant help them, teachers cant expect the school system to act appropriately when dealing with a bully and they surely cannot take matters into their own hands. The environment, as developed by the current crop of principles and supervisors ensures that bullies have a fertile ground to practice.
Thanks federal govt for dictating how schools are to function. Kicking the feds out of our schools is the first step to correcting this problem.
Used to be called "getting beat up" or "taking my milk money"
Bullying is not new, and kids in America for 200 years have dealt with it, including me. In TV shows like "Leave it to Beaver", Father Knows Best, or Ozzie and Harriett, dealing with a bully or having the kids milk money extorted from them were all subjects of episodes way back in the buccolic 50s. The classic movie "A Christmas Story" puts the theme front and center with "Farkus and his Toby". It's a part of growing up learning how to deal with people who either hate you outright or have scurrilous motives. Protecting them from this by law is not going to stop it, nor will it help these children when they grow up and the bullying or extortion take other forms they'll have to deal with. Give it a rest and move on.
why is this not addressed?
"Beach students, especially at the high school level, don't often bring up bullying when the division does its safety audits, Ponti said."
Is it because they know that the administration, school boards, and anyone that is suppose to work for safety in the school wont address this issue regardless of how many times it is brought to their attention?
They also realize that a "bully" will get maybe one hour of poorly enforced punishment and the bullied are now targets. Ideally, the problem should be resolved, but in reality, since the bully is never held accountable, the bullied realize what is happening is the lesser of the choices. Kids aren't stupid, but admin staffs sure do act stupid when they allow this to happen. No guts to fix this.
bullying happens in schools because the administration
does not have the courage to tell a parent their child is bad. They know that if they do the parent will make such a huge problem at the school, which will be a major disruption to the school operations, that they feel it is easier to just not address the issue.
They would rather punish both sides of a bullying issue because it turned into a fight. The bullied has had enough and lashes out.
Worse, the bullied accepts they are not suppose to fight back, sees no way out, and commits suicide or quits school. Tragic from the Admin POV, but both, that child is no longer a problem for the Supervisor. They become a statistic to be counted, easier.
The kids are left with handling this issue because some parents and Supervisors are spineless.
"Passive" bullying.
Bullying, as it is being portrayed these days, is not just those blatant physical and intimidating actions we grew up experiencing as bullying.
It now includes not being picked for games, being left out of groups and conversations, being "talked about" by others, not being "sat with" in the cafeteria, being "pointed at," etc.
Perhaps it has become too encompassing.
Is every time a child's feelings are hurt or they experience some disappointment a case of bullying?
Really?
In that case, I was bullied nearly every day of my life up to and including today.
Teach the Subjects you're required to!!
Teach our kids the subjects you're required to and leave the psycho mumble jumble to the real experts!! These reports/surveys are not part of the No Child Left Behind Act nor has anything to do with scholastics. It all begins in the home, just like obesity, agressive behavior,and of course the smart mouth. Let me state this one more time, "IT STARTS AT HOME." It's the way the KIDS are being brought up within their household and society! You want to combat bullying, educate the PARENTS because that's the front line of defense and not the schools!! Teach something you do know about, scholastics and stop trying psycho mumble jumble stuff!!!
so long as the teachers unions and state/fed teacher
jobs are out there, bullying will never be corrected. It will get worse. Liberal social justice concerns will insure bullying will always be a "major" problem for them to be solving. I graduated in 1979, the same bullying concerns I experienced in HS are being discussed by national studies, etc today. They know what the problem is but do not wish to address the problem because the problem is with the parents. Those who voted them into office in may instances. Parents don't want to hear they and their "angel" are the problem.
There is a voting block that will vote for anyone that will not point the blame at them and there are many who will perpetuate the problem in order to keep their job. Teachers are trying, but thats about all who are.