PTO Meeting

At tonight's PTO meeting several teachers and students presented information about bullying, how to stop it and how to prevent it.

A big way to combat bullying is to prevent it before it even stops. On our team we are working hard every day to develop caring, supportive relationships and to build the capacity to work together as a team. Helping the students see how important it is to treat each other kindly and with respect is the major step in keeping bullying behaviors from even beginning.

If and when the students do encounter bullying behavior, we are using the ideas of the Olweus Bullying Preventin program to help them report and stop the behaviors. The four premises, or rules, of the program state:

1. We will not bully.
2. We help those that are bullied.
3. We include those who are being left out.
4. We will tell an adult and an adult at home about the bullying behaviors that we see.

Through class meetings and individual discussions we give the kids the tools to help them follow these four premises every day. Is it always easy? Definitely not! Are we trying our best to help stop bullying at Bear Creek? Definitely! Kids and teachers are working together to try and make Bear Creek a bully free school.

If you would like a copy of our Rubric of Response and Think Sheet to see how we handle bullying, please let me know and I will send copied home. Copies of the Bullying Circle, which describes the different roles individuals play in a bullying situation, are also available.

Thanks for all you do at home to support our efforts to create a bully free school for all students.