Second Step E-Newsletter
September 2011
Get Your School’s Bullying Prevention Ball Rolling
This October marks the sixth annual National Bullying Prevention Month. Originally a week-long campaign, PACER Center's National Center for Bullying Prevention—founders and co-sponsors of the event—expanded its duration to the entire month of October in 2010. The event is a great opportunity for you, your students, and your school to get the bullying prevention ball rolling in 2011.
Study Up on Bullying
Before you dive into organizing bullying prevention awareness events or undertaking bullying prevention efforts in your school, it’s important to get up to speed with the latest research on bullying. The White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, held on March 10, 2011, yielded a comprehensive collection of materials that can help you learn more about a variety of bullying-related topics. Topics include risk factors for bullying, cyber bullying, the role of peers in promoting or preventing bullying, effective bullying and violence prevention programs, and reduction of bullying against LGBT youth.
Kick It Off with National Bullying Prevention Month Events
PACER Center's National Center for Bullying Prevention offers tools and resources to help schools execute three major events during National Bullying Prevention Month. These events can help you kick off your bullying prevention efforts and begin to establish school anti-bullying norms. The following outlines each event and provides links to the event planning toolkits available to help you pull them off.
Run, Walk, Roll Against Bullying
When: October 1
What: Run, Walk, Roll Against Bullying is a vehicle for raising community awareness about bullying prevention. It showcases your support for National Bullying Prevention Month and gives you an opportunity to provide information about, for example, bullying’s long-term effects and effective ways of responding to it.
How: Use the online Run, Walk, Roll Against Bullying Event Planning Toolkit to help organize this event in your school community. It outlines a five-step plan for the event and includes numerous tips, resources, and ideas to help you make it a success.
Unity Day: “Make it Orange and Make it End”
When: October 12
What: Unity Day is an opportunity for members of your school community to visibly show their support for students who have experienced bullying by wearing orange. Other recommended ways to unite against bullying on Unity Day include posting online messages, handing out orange “Unity” ribbons, or writing the word “UNITY” on your hands.
How: For more information about Unity Day and the many ways you can unite against bullying online and in your school community, visit PACER Center's National Center for Bullying Prevention Unity Day Web page.
Unity Dance Day
When: October 26
What: Unity Dance Day is a way for you to cap off National Bullying Prevention Month with some flair. Julie Hertzog, director of PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, says “The Unity Dance Day celebrates the influence of music and dance as a powerful avenue to reach kids and teens about the bullying prevention message.”
How: Use the online Unity Dance Day Event Planning Toolkit to help you organize this event for your school. You’ll find the official song and dance steps, as well as resources for post-event activities that will inspire your students and staff to take action against bullying.
Keep the Bullying Prevention Ball Rolling
Effective bullying prevention requires much more than participation in a handful of yearly events. To keep the ball rolling, you’ll need to implement an effective bullying prevention program. Committee for Children’s Steps to Respect program gives administrators, staff, and students the resources they need to create a safe school climate free from bullying. It can help you establish school policies and train staff to recognize bullying and intervene effectively.
The Steps to Respect program is research-based and demonstrated to be effective. In fact, the Fall 2011 issue of School Psychology Review will feature a study that shows less physical bullying in schools that used the Steps to Respect program compared to those that didn’t. These findings support a previous study published in the Winter 2010 issue that showed a 72 percent reduction of malicious gossip in Steps to Respect classrooms.
In addition to the core lessons and literature units you’ll find in the Steps to Respect program, you can also download the free Cyber Bullying Prevention Module. It includes five lessons that build on what students have already learned in the Steps to Respect program and provide information on recognizing, preventing, and dealing with cyber bullying.
