Teachers spearhead bullying prevention committee, see success as matter of attitude
by Kaycee Blair, Staff Writer

“The bullying prevention committee is a small group of teachers who were trained in the Olweus methods,” according to chemistry teacher Jolynn Young, who is one of those in the small group of specially trained teachers.

High school learning support teacher Michelle Ferretti added that the committee is a small group of teachers and administrators from the elementary and the secondary who were trained initially in a more extensive manner before the program came to the school.

The teachers started their special training in the spring of 2009 with an Olweus presenter. They were trained for two days and conducted another half-day meeting during the summer. The special training mostly consisted of presentation and discussion.

Three of the high school committee members, Young, Ferretti and English teacher Jeanine DeCapite all had different opinions about the effectiveness of the program thus far.

Young said, “In the high school, there is more of a focus on social skills than anti-bullying. It’s more about talking not directly about bullying. Senior high groups are thinking of ways to make the high school better for the elementary kids.”

“We have more bullying issues in the junior high, but things will get worse before they get better,” DeCapite said. “I believe that when the elementary students get here, there could be improvements.”

Ferretti said, “Meetings are more effective for the younger students, but over time students will be more successful. It’s difficult to sell to the senior high students.”

Each teacher on the committee is part of a group of about nine teachers who discuss what they are doing with the students. Young, DeCapite and Ferretti head groups who have given them both positive and negative feedback.

Young said that feedback from her teacher group is mostly positive possibly because their approach has been indirect. Ferretti said that teachers have said they are having trouble with the senior high because they need more planning time to come up with effective and useful ideas for the older students.

[comments]

Posted by "Emily Bing" on April 20, at 5:57 p.m.

I think that the bully meetings are times for students to get closer with each other. At first I thought the meetings would be a waste of time, but now it seems to help the bullying problem a little bit. I know that many people say that talking about a topic will not always solve it, but the meetings are just one way to solve the problem of bullying.

Posted by "Natalie DelVecchio" on April 20, at 8:22 p.m.

I have to agree with Sara brvsudr bully meetings don't affect the seniors that much. I think the concept behind the bully meetings has potential, but I really don't think the seniors are getting much out of them. I, personally, get extremely bored in the bully meetings because our class doesn't have bully problems. Last year's senior class ruined it for everybody, and it frustrates me that we have to sit in these meetings when we're not the problem.

Posted by "Sara Anderson" on April 7, at 6:52 p.m.

I agree with Abby on this one. We get to spend time with fellow students and get to know them better while learning about bullying, anti-bullying methods, and the ways people have taken action. These meetings probably won't affect the seniors, but hopefully they will change things for the younger kids moving up into the junior and senior highs.

Posted by "Abby Stivason" on March 22, at 7:43 p.m.

At first, the bullying meetings made many students angry. I was one of them. I really didn't think that Leechburg had a large bullying problem. I still don't. After having the meetings, I realized that it was fun to sit in a room with classmates and chat. Some of the meetings were very beneficial, like the meeting we had about our senior projects and the meetings when we watched "The Eye of the Storm."

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