What is Anamosa Doing to Stop Bullying?
By Trent Jeffrey, Assistant Principal
November 08, 2007
Bullying and harassing behavior can seriously disrupt the ability of school employees to maintain a safe and civil environment. It can also interfere with the ability of our students to learn and succeed. These are the findings provided to school administration and counselors all over the state on October 16, 2007 by the Department of Education and Area Education Agencies.
A law went into effect this year stating that all school boards are to have an anti-bullying/anti-harassment policy adopted on or before September 1, 2007. What is a good definition of bullying and harassment? "Any electronic, written, verbal, or physical act or conduct toward a student which is based on any actual or perceived trait or characteristic of the student and which creates an objectively hostile school environment."
In Anamosa we have the required policy in place and are moving ahead at a swift pace. In the fall of 2006 our administrators decided that we should look for an anti-bullying/anti-harassment program that could be implemented throughout our district. With that decision one of our administrators, with the help of the counseling department, began looking for a program. The team began to collect data and studied the Iowa Youth Survey, United Way Survey, Jones County Survey, student surveys, discipline referrals, and attendance data. As a team we agreed that we needed a program that was research based.
In January of 2007, the team met with Dale Monroe, superintendent, to make sure that we were on the right track. We discovered two programs that were researched based: Positive Action and Olweus. We had a representative from Positive Action present their program to us. We looked for schools in Iowa that were using the program but couldn't find any that were using it with fidelity. We have been to Linn-Mar to see Olweus in action.
Currently the team is finalizing their research and getting ready to summarize the findings to the administrative team. Once the administrators have heard the information, the Building Leadership Teams will hear about the programs and provide feedback regarding the direction our district will go. The plan is to train all staff, certified and uncertified, by the beginning of next school year in the program that is chosen.
At Anamosa, we work hard to ensure that our students can learn and be successful. Providing a harassment and bully free environment is just one of the ways we are working to improve the learning environment.
