Schools

Battling the bully in Amity schools

Officials fight to keep children safe from tormenters

Bullying. It's every parent's worst nightmare, and the very thought of their child being harassed, abused, or beaten up on the playground can keep a mother or father awake all night. Worse still, when the nightly news is filled with horror stories of children and teens so tortured by their peers that they commit suicide, it makes parents wonder – is my child safe? What are the schools doing to make sure this doesn't happen to my son or daughter?

In the Amity School District, administrators and teachers have made it no secret they are working hard to reduce, if not eliminate, bullying from their corridors, classrooms and buses. Some of the anti-bullying programs have been widely publicized, and others quietly implemented.

According to Orange Superintendent of Schools Tim James, "The board of education, staff and administration are committed to assuring that students who attend our schools in Amity are in a safe and supportive learning environment."

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As part of their anti-bullying program Amity employed the "School Climate Project," whose focus is to eliminate bullying behavior in schools and to assist those who have been bullied by providing professional support. Students in grades five and six completed an extensive scientifically research-based survey this past May.

According to James, the results of the survey were analyzed and shared with the board of education, district and school administrators. Though the results revealed that comparatively few students had experienced bullying behavior in the Orange-based middle school, James said, "Principals shared the results with their respective staff members and developed plans of action to further strengthen our commitment."

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Dr. Richard Dellinger, principal of Amity Middle School, Bethany Campus, said that while his school also fared better than most in the School Climate Project, the greatest concerns raised were about bullying on the school bus.

"We decided to have a strategy session to address this," Dellinger said. "Jenna Derosa, the school psychologist, met with the bus drivers to discuss rules and expectations and to make sure the drivers had any phone numbers they needed if they ran into problems."

One of the key elements of the School Climate project is its confidentiality; the students taking the survey are guaranteed individual results will not be shared with anyone outside the Project. While this was frustrating for teachers and administrators, all of whom wanted to know which children were in danger of being bullied, Dellinger admitted confidentiality is key.

"It's a risk for students to go to an authority figure," he said.

As anyone who ever attended sixth grade knows, the repercussions for being a snitch can be terrifying.

Dellinger added, however, that students have more power than they know in these situations.

"We have to sensitize kids to the power they have as bystanders," he said. "They can support kids who are victims. We try to teach them when they see it happening they need to give support to those being victimized."

Keeping it at the forefront of the school's agenda is especially important, and Amity has chosen the books The Revealers and The Outsiders for summer reading. Both have themes about bullying, and students are broken down into discussion groups to talk about the books and what it feels like to be an outsider.

"It's about teaching tolerance and acceptance," Dellinger said.

Throughout the year, the schools use films, books and presentations to continue working on the problem, and teachers are at the forefront of the battle. 

According to James, "All staff will be required to complete an online "Bullying" tutorial that is intended to heighten their awareness about the subject and to urge them to address bullying behavior per the board of education and school policies and procedures."

The fight against bullying is ongoing, and the schools intend to again make use of The School Climate Project survey in the spring to take the temperature of the conditions in the classrooms.

"It's very, very hard," Dellinger said. "It's a huge issues in the schools, and our kids have to feel safe."


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