For Immediate Release
March 20, 2006
Contact:
James Pierce, Principal
Clark Elementary School
434-245-2414
James.Pierce@ccs.k12.va.us
Brian Dublirer
Guidance Counselor
Clark Elementary School
434-245-2414
Brian.Dublirer@ccs.k12.va.us
Media Release
Clark Elementary School Staff, Students and Parents Implement “Steps to Respect” Program
Clark Elementary School Guidance Counselor Brian Dublirer and four Clark students were featured in the Committee for Children's Winter 2006 E-Newsletter for their participation in the committee's "Steps to Respect", a bullying prevention program.
The three objectives of the program are to:
- Establish a school-wide framework by creating anti-bullying policies and consequences for bullying behavior.
- Train all school staff to recognize bullying and work directly with children involved in bullying incidents.
- Give children the skills to recognize, refuse, and report bullying as well as strategies they can use to be “part of the solution” instead of “part of the problem.”
One area of discussion centered on the consequences of bullying not only for the children being bullied but also on the bystanders involved. The children had their own opinion on the word "bystander" which Mr. Dublirer describes as follows; "When we were talking about it in the classrooms, some of the kids were saying they didn't like the word bystander, because they said, 'That means standing by. We don't want to stand by. We want to do something." So I said, 'Okay, why don't we have a little contest for a word that would take the place of bystander once you did something?' A lot of the kids submitted words — we had 40 entries, at least. And upstander just stood out to me. That word has really caught on in the students' language and replaced bystander completely. So everyone really talks about being an upstander. I asked all the teachers to be present during the lesson. They really liked it. Several teachers became actively involved in the discussions, which legitimized the whole thing with the kids." "Giving them the language, that was the big thing. That's really where the transfer comes in: When you give people the language for something, they're able to describe it. All that structure is very helpful to the kids."
Third-grader Kyara had the following to say on being an upstander: "It makes other people feel a lot safer in school when people stand up for them and there's not as many bullies."
For additional information, please contact:
James Pierce, Principal
Clark Elementary School
434-245-2414
James.Pierce@ccs.k12.va.us
Brian Dublirer
Guidance Counselor
Clark Elementary School
434-245-2414
Brian.Dublirer@ccs.k12.va.us