Standing Up To Bullies

Students, faculty and visitors at Yankton’s Webster Elementary School release balloons Tuesday as part of the launch of the school’s new anti-bullying program. (Kelly Hertz/P&D)

Rally Celebrates Webster School’s Effort To Fight Widespread Problem

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Every seven minutes a child is bullied on a playground.

10 percent of kids say they are bullied on a regular basis.

One out of five students admit to being a bullying, or engaging in an act of bullying.

Webster School students and teachers were joined by community members on Tuesday to participate in a rally against bullying, and to say they are all standing up against bullying.

“The community support is vital to us. When our teachers were trained in the Olweus bullying prevention program, they said you have to have community members and parents on board,” said Webster principal Melanie Ryken. “So to see standing room only in our gym means a lot to us.”

About a dozen teachers and officials from Webster School were trained on the Olweus program this summer. Two trainers from Sioux Falls trained the teachers several times this summer, other staff members were trained in the fall.

“The Olweus program is research-based which separates it from other bullying prevention programs,” Ryken said. “We did a survey with the older kids at the beginning to find out bullying hot spots in the area. What’s different is, we’re saying you can’t be a bully. We’re also teaching others to be an ally — don’t be a bystander, don’t watch it happen so we can create an in balance so the allies will overpower the bully.”

Webster School becomes the first and only school in Yankton to have teachers and administrators trained on Olweus, Ryken added.

The rally included students and teachers wearing anti-bullying shirts, which were provided to the school by Thrivent Financial. A video was shown of students and teachers saying they will stand up to bullying. Yankton High School cheerleaders led the crowd in an anti-bullying cheer, students also put their names on feet taped to the wall to say they will “stand up” against bullying, and a balloon release was held to demonstrate that there will be no bullying at Webster School.

Community members in attendance included parents, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, firefighters, police offers, college administrators, a prison official and politicians, among others.

“It’s important to have a consistent way of confronting bullying,” said Webster and Lincoln School counselor Lesley Hale. “Being consistent is really the key way to prevent bullying.”

Ryken hopes the community sees the success of the anti-bullying program at Webster School and other schools in Yankton get trained on the program.

“Any time you have one act of bullying, that’s one act too many,” she said. “You can never say bullying is not a big deal because it is.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal

http://www.yankton.net/articles/2012/11/21/community/doc50ac38905487c282740338.txt