No doubt the shocking video of a 68-year-old school bus monitor mercilessly bullied by four 13-year-old boys will be used to emphasize the need for anti-bullying programs.
One place that won’t adopt an anti-bullying curriculum, however, is the Greece Central School District in New York, where the episode occurred. That’s because the Greece district already has multiple anti-bullying programs, which include the acclaimed “Olweus” method that was adopted by the Neshaminy School District.
Last Friday, I sent a note to the Greece school district, which has received thousands of notes inquiring which anti-bullying programs they have, and how they determine success. I did not hear back, but on Monday morning, I found the district website had been updated to include this:
“The Greece Central School District has a strong bullying prevention model that includes a district response team, training programs for staff and students, including the Olweus Bullying Program, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and a Bullying Reporting Process. In March, we also hired a special counselor to train all staff in bullying prevention models. In fact, she is holding a previously scheduled training for administrators, as we speak.”
At Greece’s Athena Middle School, where the four punks attend seventh grade, there is an anti-bullying program specifically for middle-schoolers. The program guide states that its purpose is “giving students the tools to reduce bullying behavior through the blending of school-wide positive behavior support, explicit instruction, and a redefinition of the bullying construct.”
Maybe these kids decided on a “redefinition of the bullying construct” of their own. Instead of picking on another kid, they decided to pick on Karen Klein, grandmother of eight, who was clearly dumbfounded as the boys mocked her weight, called her names, and used gutter-level profanity commonly associated with Bill Maher.
No doubt, once school resumes in September, school boards around the country will vote unanimously to adopt even more anti-bullying programs, in light of the Karen Klein incident. This is because bullying is the latest American hysteria.
School bullying is routinely reported as “rampant,” though federal statistics show this is untrue. According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, only 4 percent of American school children say they’ve been bullied, or that they fear going to school because of bullies. (The Indiana Department of Education numbers show just 2 percent of school children reported being bullied.)
Still, expect to see the school bus video employed in training sessions, and as an emotional button-pusher for parents. Why, if this can happen to a kindly grandmother in a Rochester suburb, imagine what your child faces every day! (Cue dramatic doomsday crescendo.)
This is not to say that school bullies do not exist. Of course they do. They always have. They always will. Kids can be cruel. Not all. Just some. And there is nothing Olweus or any anti-bully “method” can do about it.
You can dismantle all the boys sports programs, disband the marching band, discontinue after-school activities, fold the school newspaper and take all the savings and put it into any anti-bullying program you choose. The bullies will still be there, because some kids are simply beyond the reach of the lessons that these programs provide.
Take this to the bank: the Greece Central School District incident will be held up as the reason we need more anti-bullying programs.
Since I last wrote about this, I have been given a dozen anecdotal cases of school bullying from around Bucks County. From kids who fear going to school to kids who considered ending their lives. They are dramatic and heartbreaking, especially to anyone who has ever experienced bullying as a child.
But most kids aren’t bullies. Most kids are good. Most teachers will not tolerate bullying, and the fact that 96 percent of U.S. students don’t experience bullying is to their credit, and to the credit of parents who instruct at home on the virtue of kindness.
Given that anti-bullying school education is ubiquitous and given that so few kids report being bullied, anecdotal cases such as the bullied bus monitor actually prove the limits of anti-bullying education, not the need for more.
J.D. Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at email@example.com.
J.D. Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at firstname.lastname@example.org.For more news about your area... Bucks County Courier Times Burlington County Times The Intelligencer // //