Dad’s Schoolbus Outburst Causes DebateSep 23 2010By Sophie Carr, Interim Outreach Director James Jones boarding of a school bus in Florida last week to confront his daughter’s bullies has people divided over the appropriateness of his outburst. On the one side, there are parents fed up over the lack of attention and intervention that school-based bullying receives, advocating for more intervention such as that undertaken by Mr. Jones. On the other side, health care and child psychologists are pushing for constructive intervention strategies. This article caught my attention as both a parent and as someone who works with schools on bullying and violence prevention. As a parent my first reaction on reading Mr. James Jones’ outburst was sympathy and sadness for all the children that were present. No matter how immune they may seem, I am certain that these children were left upset, unsure and demoralized. Yet, I still sympathize with Mr. Jones’ cause. My four-year-old son has already been openly bullied with limited to no intervention from school staff. There is a definite lack of knowledge at both the staff and parent levels on how to intervene. Unfortunately, what usually happens after these types of incidents entail the ‘zero-tolerance policies’, accompanied with staff development, more adult supervision and surveillance. All serve to perhaps hold back the tide but do very little to fix the issue at its source – the students. Research indicates that 70-85% of students have been passive bystanders to peer mistreatment. Most often, they do not intervene because they fear retaliation or don’t know what to say or do. Their silence (certainly Mr. James perceived it as such) amounts to tacit consent, which reinforces an environment where it is ‘cool to be cruel’. Yet these students hold the key – they hear, see and know things adults don’t. They are often the first responders on the scene of an incident. My response to the parents who have come out in favor of Mr. Jones’ intervention technique and to the schools administrators struggling on how to control what President Obama has described as an ‘epidemic of bullying and cyber-bullying’ is to start on the inside. Focus on the children, the students. They create the social norms and culture of the school. This is where we should be spending our resources and time. Drop the blame game and band-aid theories and instead, focus on providing these children the desire, language and intervention skills to volunteer to stop bullying and violence amongst their peers. 
Recent Posts10 Ways You Can Help To Stop BullyingWe have a choice. We can be overwhelmed by the size and scope of the issue and do nothing, or we can wake up our courage and do something that contributes to making things better. ‘Bully’ movie opens Friday, March 30th - Waking Up Courage is the Solution to Stopping BullyingThe new movie “Bully” opens March 30th in major cities nationwide. The film documents bullying between real kids and outlines the extent of the bullying epidemic. But solutions do exist – in the form of programs like Safe School Ambassadors that awaken the courage of bystanders to speak up when they see bullying occur. Rick Phillips Speaks On Bullying at the Clinton School of Public ServiceThe Clinton School of Public Service invited Rick Phillips, Executive Director of Community Matters as one of their Distinguished Speakers for their series of public lectures in Little Rock, Arkansas. Safe School Ambassadors school nationally recognized for its tolerance effortsMesa Linda Middle School in Victorville, CA was recognized as a “Mix It Up” Model School by the Teaching Tolerance Project. Straight Talk TNT - Teens ‘n Twenties Publishes Article Praising Safe School Ambassadors ProgramLauren Forcella, founder and editor of the website Straight Talk TNT: Teens ‘n Twenties, has written and published an article on her site praising the effectiveness of the Safe School Ambassadors program. |