This is the second of a three-part series examining the increasing trend of bullying in schools. Part Two examines the steps schools in Malibu are taking to reduce instances of bullying and the damage it causes.
By Angelique LaCour / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu Middle and High School Principal Dr. Mark Kelly has been an educator for 25 years and says the question of bullying is a constant challenge.
“One of the things that we continue to struggle with is a concept of bullying as a problem in its own right versus normal peer-to-peer social conflict,” Kelly said.
Kelly points out that education is a human endeavor that brings with it all kinds of “social stuff” that is integral to any human endeavor. In the school setting the challenge is managing the emotional and social development that is part of the maturation process from pre-teen to adulthood, and distinguishing psycho-social conflicts that will arise from bullying. “We try to be hands on and use mediation as a tool to try to resolve conflicts between kids, and get the parties involved to work out their problems,” Kelly said. “And I think we do a pretty good job with that.”
Typically the most common kind of conflicts that occur, especially in middle school, are about inclusion and exclusion. At that age you can be “in” one day, “out” the next, and this can cause a lot of hurt feelings. But this is different from bullying situations because bullying is a power issue. “We’re still trying to get our heads around what that means and distinguishing it from ordinary social conflicts,” Kelly said. “We do take bullying seriously, but sometimes it’s messy.”
Through professional development and training Kelly has learned that it’s not always appropriate to put a kid who is being bullied into a mediation situation. A strategy that has been put into place to respond to reported bullying incidents is the convening of a Solutions Team with the consent of the student who is being bullied. That student is not directly involved in the intervention, but gets to pick the team participants. The team is made up of the facilitator (either the school counselor or assistant principal), the student(s) doing the bullying, and other students are brought in who Kelly says “may have been bystanders to the incident, but who may have some power or leverage to join in on the bullying.”
“We started the Solutions Team last year after attending professional development training on bullying,” Kelly said. “So this is new for us, and we’ve only done it a few times.” At the Rules Assembly held at the beginning of each school year, students are encouraged to identify one adult on campus they would feel comfortable speaking to if they were “feeling something, observed something, witnessed something, needed something” with a situation like a bully, Kelly said. He believes it is important for students to know ahead of time where they can turn for help. Students receive a lot of information in the classroom, but the challenge is putting what they have learned into practice outside the classroom when adults are not around.
This March, Malibu High administrators, the school psychologist, counselors and two teachers will be participating in a professional development training on bullying offered by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
While middle school is the place where more bullying episodes are likely to take place, students at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School in Malibu are educated about the seriousness of bullying behavior. “We take a proactive stance,” said Barry Yates, Principal of Juan Cabrillo. “We try to build a foundation on how to handle conflict.”
At Juan Cabrillo, positive behaviors are rewarded with “Flipper (the friendly dolphin) Slips.” Every faculty and staff member at the school has a supply of these little slips to hand out to a student when they “catch” them doing the right thing above and beyond expected behavior. Flipper Slip holders are honored at the daily school assembly.
These efforts are made with one eye toward the future. The school is laying the groundwork to help avoid the emergence of bullying behavior in middle school. Yates points out that the school is fortunate to have a special education “life skills class” composed of kids with various physical challenges.
“This is a great way to teach empathy, tolerance and how to respond with compassion to peers that are different, and need help and support,” Yates said.
Students from the life skills class are mixed into the art and physical education classes. This gives students an opportunity to exercise tolerance and patience with their school mates’ disabilities.
Yates said that the school also uses Cool Tools, a program developed by UCLA about ten years ago, and since adopted district-wide. Some of the tools include an inflatable microphone that is used to encourage kids to find their voice and speak up for themselves, a giant eraser to remind them that everyone makes mistakes, and an oversized tube of toothpaste to be used to clean up communication skills. “We do have a proven plan in place [Cool Tools] and it does work,” said Yates.
Next week-Part 3: What do parents and kids have to say about their experiences with bullying?