District 41 Taking On Bullies

Bullying and District 41’s response led off Monday night’s board of education meeting at the District’s central services office, 793 N. Main St.

Several members of the District 41 Anti-Bullying Task Force presented on their findings and their recommendations after approximately five months of research and discussion. The task force, a 40-plus-volunteer group that includes parents, staff, and other members of the District 41 community, was put together in October and split into four study groups to analyze different aspects of bullying in the district: Definition and Response, Research and Review, School Climate, and Community Engagement and Education.

According to Definition and Response presenter Danice McGrath, the task force came up with a definition of bullying that was three-pronged: bullying is purposeful and aggressive, there’s a distinct power difference between the bully and the bullied, and it happens more than once, she said.

McGrath, who is a parent of a fifth grader and spoke Monday alongside Forest Glen social worker Jenny Geighes, said the task force aimed to develop a district-wide “behavioral rubric that features clear, consistent expectations.”

“What’s great about this is everyone’s on the same page,” McGrath said. “There are not different rules when there’s a substitute or different rules depending on what teacher you have. It’s consistency within the whole district. There’s no guesswork and everybody’s using the same language.”

The task force recommended that the board of education look for necessary changes in policy and that the District 41 PTA examine bullying behavior and how it fits into the district's discipline matrix. It also recommended the district “follow the research” by developing a “systematic approach to collecting data around intervention/prevention practices employed” and “staying current with the ever-evolving knowledge base around bullying.”

Among specific suggestions made by the task force were that there be a mandatory anti-bullying class for students, a website linked to the district’s where students and families could get information on bullying, and multiple options during lunchtime and recess so that potential victims are not forced into a bad situation.

“There could be at each school a sort of a break, a smaller, less catatonic environment such as a technology center, reading rooms, library time,” School Climate speaker and district parent Molly Manzilla said. “Places where kids can go to read to get out of that fray if indeed that is too stressful.”

The next step, according to Superintendant Ann Riebock, is to put together another voluntary task force that will take the recommendations presented Monday and turn them into implementable policies. Riebock said it will go right along with the district-wide incorporation of the Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies (PBIS) by the start of 2011-12.  

“The timeline for some of this work is the fall,” Riebock said, referring to setting common practice across the district. “Then some of this work, like the community engagement and education, is probably work that would unfold over the course of the next year as we find community partners with whom to engage.'

“I think we focus internally first and then begin to focus on how we take that message to a broader audience.”

According to the task force's PowerPoint, bullying is a problem “throughout the country as well as here within our own school district and community” and there has been increasing media coverage nationally and growing concerns in the district about the long-term dangers posed to both victims and bullies. Emphasized by Monday’s presenters was not only training bullies and victims, but “bystanders” who let the bullying occur and by doing nothing, might enable it.

“Knowledge is power,” Manzilla said. “What we need to do with the children is actually train them on how to verbally deal with someone who’s bullying, for themselves and for other people.”

Each of the four study groups met seven times between October and Monday’s meeting. Other presenters included fifth-grade Lincoln teacher Patricia Harte-Naus from the Research and Review study group, fourth-grade Lincoln teacher John Bower from School Climate, and parent Jeremy Bargiel from Community Engagement and Education.

In other board action:

• The board heard a presentation from the  director of technology, Mike Wood, detailing what could be in store for District 41 students technology-wise over the next several school years. Wood said for the 2011-12 school year, Hadley Junior High is slated to get a new fleet of laptops, smart boards, and even test iPads and Motorola Xooms as the district pilots tablet technology. The elementary schools will get similar treatment in 2012-13. In 2013-14, one can expect refreshed computer lab technology across the district.