What is Bullying?
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. (stopbullying.gov)
While any act of meanness or aggression is taken seriously at Kinard, it is important to make sure that the unwanted actions you are experiencing are indeed bullying. Consult the picture to the right in order to decide if you are experiencing bullying, teasing, conflict, or mean moments. |
When to Report a BullyAfter deciding that that you are a target of bullying, it is important to take immediate action especially if the actions demonstrated by the other person are making you feel unsafe. If you notice that you are unable to concentrate in class, be happy with your friends, be open with your family, or are starting to see a change in your behavior and attitude as a result of how you are being treated, then it is time to speak up.
First start by trying to let the bully know that their actions are making you feel bad. Sometimes, people are unaware that their actions are hurtful. If the bully is unresponsive, meaning that they continue their harmful actions even after you tell them to stop, then it is time to get a trusted adult involved. Remember, telling an adult about a bully is not tattling; it is asking for help. The process of how the counselors and administration deal with a bully is outlined below. |
How to Report a BullyAfter letting your bully know that you are not OK with they way they are treating you, it is time to get a trusted adult involved. Any adult in the building is able to help you handle your bully.
You can speak with your teachers, our school resource officer, administration, or the counselor about your bully. Teachers will contact either the administration or the counselor to begin the process of talking to both you and your bully to resolve the conflict and make sure that everyone is feeling safe and secure inside and outside of school. While it is encouraged that you face your bully head on, we understand that some may wish to remain anonymous when reporting their bully. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can click on the button below to report your bully. |
The ProcessKinard uses the tiered levels of support that address bullying prevention and intervention offered by PSD. The process begins with educating our staff and setting the expectation for a universal level of research-based behavioral support. This allows for each member in our building to be a safe and knowledgeable person to approach when a student is feeling bullied.
As the tiered support suggests, a single incident of harassment results in a response team reviewing any evidence of bullying. An administrator will then meet with both the targeted individual and the bully's parent(s) to explore the reason(s) behind the bully's behaviors and to offer support and instruction to the targeted individual. If the behaviors continue, the bully is subject to a risk/safety/threat assessment and begins a more structured monitoring process that takes place both at home and in school. Teachers will be asked to more closely monitor both the bully and the targeted individuals' actions throughout the day and report out their findings. Along with this, the bully will sped time working with administrators to set behavioral related goals as well as receive social-emotional instruction and support. For more intense instances of bullying, the bully will receive a supervision plan as well as intensified intervention or instruction. The bully and their family will be asked to interact with comprehensive person-centered, function-based, and school-based community family resources in order to make sure messages are received both inside and outside of school. The student may be paired with a faculty member who will escort them to and from classes and act as a behavior monitor who then reports back to the administration.
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Resources PSD offers a great deal of resources that may be useful in a bullying situation. Click on the links below to check out some of the district information around bullying as well as familiarize yourself with some of the bullying prevention programs used in the schools.
Bullying Prevention in the ClassroomThe document below provides an outline of what bullying prevention looks like at each grade level. As the year progresses, the prevention outline may change, so be sure to check back.
Bullying Prevention in the classroom |