Bullying & Mean Behavior

Cool to be Kind:

Dealing with Bullying and Harassment

HiTOPS Educator

Designed for: Professionals

“I hate seeing these kids making out in the hallway, but what do I do?”

“’Boys will be boys? That is not acceptable –

we need a policy that everybody follows.”

“Everybody says ‘That’s so gay.’ What do you want me to do about it?”

An estimated 160,000 students miss school every day because of fear of being bullied, according to the National Association of School Psychologists and the U.S. Department of Justice. Bullying in schools has reached epidemic proportions in this country. Many school-aged children report multiple encounters with meanness and bullying behavior on a daily basis; on school grounds, on the bus, as they walk to and from school, in the lunchroom and now, over the Internet.

This in-service is designed to help professionals review their school harassment policy and develop strategies for making school safe for all students. Using a combination of lecture, brainstorming and small group problem-solving, participants will work together to find useful bullying reduction strategies to use in school.

Our goals are to help professionals :

• Understand their school harassment policy and procedure

• Identify strategies to make students aware of the harassment policy and procedure

• Develop a clear chain of command for students to report bullying/harassment

• Identify strategies to help students develop ‘zero tolerance’ for bullying in others when they witness bullying/harassment behavior

Average length of in-service : 90 minutes; half-day; whole-day

Recommended number of participants : 20-100