Success Story:
Kids and Parents Talk About Bullying
Julynn Mullenix, Counselor
Douglass Valley Elementary School
U.S. Air Force Academy, CO
Douglass Valley Elementary School serves the U.S. Air Force Academy and has a highly mobile student body. Counselor Julynn Mullenix says parents often think, "Well, my kid's fine, we don't really need to worry about bullying," and students often arrive not knowing what bullying really is.
But thanks to the STEPS TO RESPECT program, says Mullenix, "Kids and parents talk about it." The program "does increase their knowledge of what a bully is, so they'll use that word more than they used to. 'I'm being bullied,' or 'So-and-so's being bullied.' It's good that they recognize that."
The STEPS TO RESPECT program has also given Mullenix and her students a common language for problem solving. "When kids come into my office with conflicts, I can say, 'Have you used these steps? What have you tried? What does your program and your teacher say about this kind of conflict?' It gives us a specific method. They know there's a hierarchy of what they can try, and that's good for the kids."
