Creating Positive Culture

Bullying Prevention Work

Read the DCS Middle School Leadership Self Assessment tool here.

7_AntiBullyingPSA_4.m4v

From the Vault: A Public Service Announcement addressing bullying made by former DCS students. PSA 1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ITjoK_n30tLb127x0sf8lu_22JV1ky7E/view?usp=sharing

Winning PSA from Characters Unite & Flip the Script 'Unite Against Bullying Commercial Challenge'.mp4

Characters Unite Video DCS Anti Bullying PSA #2

Devon Ryerson Anti-Bullying PSA.mp4

DCS Anti Bullying PSA #3



Eliza Howe Cyberbullying PSA.mp4

DCS Anti Bullying PSA #4


OwenHowarth PSA.mp4

DCS Anti Bullying PSA #5



Meaghan Erlbach Cyberbullying PSA.mp4

DCS Anti Bullying PSA #5

Jackie Woods Cyberbullying PSA.mp4

DCS Anti Bullying PSA #6

Kindness Week

October 16th - 20th, 2017

Every year we take a week to emphasize positive interactions between students, and to teach skills related to resolving or avoiding peer conflicts.

In the past, we have focused on a theme of bullying prevention, but this year our guidance counselor, Pam Lizotte, recommended that we have a greater focus on the kind of school culture that we value, leading us to rename the week "Kindness Week".

Our Student Council, led by staff advisor Nick Lyons, plans the activities for the week, with support from Pam Lizotte and the School Culture Team. Please contact Assistant Principal Hiram Sibley with questions or concerns at: sibleyh@rsu5.org.


Our Goals for the Week:

  1. Teach students how to contribute to a kind and positive school environment.
  2. Build skills needed to help prevent bullying and to safely intervene if someone is in trouble.
  3. Teach students how to report conflicts or bullying to their home room teacher/advisor.


Each day has a theme and a positive message. Our Student Council members and Student Ambassadors are going to deliver messages that support these goals at the beginning and end of each day, and will model skills around the building during the week.


Monday - "One Kind Word or Act"

We will kick off kindness week by challenging each student to say or do something kind for a peer.

Mr. Lyons and the student council will deliver a more detailed messages via the PA. Throughout the day, staff will find times to encourage students to say or do something kind for a peer. It would be extra exciting if students try to do or say something kind to someone that they don't know well, but they can be kind to anyone they want, of course.

When people are kind to each other on a regular basis in a school, students are happier, more excited to go to school, and learn more. We all have a better day when people choose to be kind.


Tuesday - “Know What to Do” / BLUE SHIRT DAY

We are asking students to wear blue shirts on Tuesday. Blue Shirt Day is a national initiative in schools to encourage students to end bullying and support each other in positive ways.

The theme for the day is “Know What to Do”.

Three Key Skills for Tuesday:

(1) Be a Friend. Help a Friend. Disagreements and conflicts are part of life. Help your friends out when they are having a hard time. At DCS we know about being Honest, using Empathy, showing Respect and being Responsible. Sometimes we all need reminders, and sometimes a friend can step in and help people solve problems. If you see a conflict, or bullying, and you are not sure what to do, talk to your teacher about it.

(2) Report Problems to Your Homeroom Teacher or Advisor. If you are having a conflict, or you feel like you are being bullied, tell your homeroom teacher or advisor. Sometimes you need to get help from the closest teacher, but always make sure that you tell your own teacher as well. Your teacher will keep track of the situation and help you resolve the issue, especially if it happens more than once. Report conflicts and bullying as soon as possible, so that we can help you resolve the problem right away.

(3) Learning and Growing. If you are having a conflict with a peer, and you think that you might be part of the problem, you should still talk to your teacher about it. Our goal it to help students learn and grow. No one has all the answers. All of us have to keep learning and growing every day.

Action step for the day: Try to see things from another person's perspective. Take the time to really listen to other people.

Quotes for the day: "Understanding is a two-way street". Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation". Michael Jordan


Wednesday - “Count Me In”

Students will be challenged to include someone new into a game at recess. We learn best when we learn together. To learn together, we need to get to know each other.

Quotes for the day:

  • "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller
  • "There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met." William Butler Yeats
  • "The only way to have a friend is to be one." Ralph Waldo Emerson


Thursday - “In the Know”

Students will be challenged to get to know one new person. Mrs. Lizotte is planning a "Mix it Up" challenge for Thursday lunches. Students will sit with different students than they usually eat with. Mrs. Lizotte and the DCS student ambassadors are organizing the challenge, and providing each table with optional discussion prompts to help students get to know other students better.


Friday - “Do Something for Someone”

Students will be challenged to find ways to do kind things for their peers, using a "Kindness Checklist" that suggests some ways to help people out.

Quote for the day: "If you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good". Oprah Winfrey


________________________

Thank You!

Thank to families for all you do to contribute to the positive and productive culture at DCS. Whether it is volunteering, chaperoning, attending events, or setting clear expectations at home with students, it all adds up to making DCS a great place for students to learn and grow.


If you have any questions or concerns about the upcoming week, please contact Hiram Sibley or Pam Lizotte.

Supporting Students at Home


We have found that the most effective way to address bullying or peer conflicts is for students to report what is happening, as soon as possible, to their home room teacher or advisor. For students in the elementary grades, this is the teacher that students spend most of their day with. These teachers will work with students to investigate and resolve the issues, and bring the issues to the attention of the administrators or guidance counselor if necessary. There are times when a student needs to tell a bus driver or the person supervising recess about a problem, but we want students to also tell their own teacher. Their teacher will keep track of issues over time and communicate with families about ongoing issues. We want to avoid situations where a student might tell different staff members about different conflicts. Having all of the information going through the student's main teacher means that we are more likely to see trends and focus on building student skills.


We also have found that the sooner a student reports a problem, the better equipped we are to investigate it and deal with it. If a student waits to report it, it is harder to get a clear picture of what happened. Inevitably, different students see situations different ways, so it helps for us to be able to talk to other students and staff while the incident is fresh in people's minds.


If a child comes home and reports having problems with another student, please feel free to contact his or her teacher, Mrs. Lizotte, or Mr. Sibley, but also encourage him or her to talk to his or her teacher.




Cyber-Bullying Awareness Event

On May 30, 2017, we hosted a Cyber Bullying Awareness evening event for parents of RSU 5 fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders at DCS. Sarah Ricker, the Student Assistance Coordinator at the Maine Dept. of Education came and shared her knowledge and expertise. RSU 5 was represented by FMS principal Ray Grogan, Director of Technology Seth Thompson, DCS guidance counselor Pam Lizotte, and Hiram Sibley, Durham’s assistant principal.

Our goals were (1) to Create a Cyberbullying intervention for the RSU that incorporates student and family input, as well as input from the Maine Department of Education; and (2) to develop on-going dialogue between students, families and educators that provides all of us with the information that we need to deal with cyberbullying.

We looked at data that said that nationally, between 16 and 21% of students ages 12-18 experienced on line conflicts. We talked about the importance of preparing students to avoid getting into conflicts online, educating students to try to solve conflicts in person, rather than on line, to take screen shots when there are problems, and to not respond to trolling.

We also stressed the importance of communication between home and school. We are going to look at ways to let parents know about social media applications that we are hearing are problematic, and we are asking parents to let us know if they are hearing about problems, too. DCS middle schoolers reported that people’s behavior on Snapchat can be a problem, that trolling on musical.ly was a problem earlier in the year until their mothers sorted out the situation, and that exchanges on Instagram, KiK, Twitter and Facebook are also sometimes a problem.

We stressed the importance of having students report any form of bullying to their classroom teacher, or advisor in grades seven and eight. Even if a parent has let us know that there is a problem, we want students to be in the habit of reporting conflicts and bullying to their own teachers. Classroom teachers will communicate with the administrators about disciplinary issues, but also have an important role to play in resolving conflicts based on their knowledge of their students. We also want to avoid situations where students report different situations to different adults over the course of the school year, and no one person is really seeing the big picture. Reporting to the classroom teacher or advisor will help with that.

As a final thought, most students make good decisions most of the time. Kids’ judgement typically is weakest late at night. Keeping phones and laptops charging in a central location, and out of bedrooms, makes a huge difference. Nothing good comes of students arguing back and forth online when they are tired.


Anti-Bullying Week 2016-17


This year, Anti-Bullying week was March 6th through 10th. The Student Council, working with Mr. Lyons, organized and ran daily school-wide events for students and staff. Mrs. Lizotte provided some key insights to the plans as well. The student council put a group of about 45 seventh and eighth graders to work, teaching students in the younger grades about how to stand up for themselves, how to stand up for each other, and how to report bullying to their teachers. Four of the day’s activities included a chance for students to work with their classmates to figure out how to stop bullying in school, and on one of the days, we all got into our bus groups, with our bus drivers, and worked on dealing with bullying and conflicts on the school buses.

One of our key messages was that if a student feels like they are being bullied, they need to go tell their teacher. If they are in a situation and need help right away, they should tell whatever adult is nearby, but they should still make a point of telling their own teacher. In the younger grades, this would be the teacher that they spend most of the day with. In the higher grades, this would be their advisor - the person that the student does their parent conferences with. These teachers know their students best, and communicate with home.

As a parent, one thing that you can do, when your child is having a conflict or being bullied, is to encourage your child to go tell their teacher. We appreciate hearing directly from parents as well, but also want students to advocate for themselves.

The student council, and the seventh and eighth grade leaders, all did a great job with this year’s Anti-Bullying Week. A big “Thank You” to all of them, and to Mr. Lyons and Mrs. Lizotte for their leadership.