Bullying Prevention & Positive School Culture

“Successfully dealing with bullying involves building a genuine community within the school. Everyone accepts they have the right to be free from harassment and that they have the responsibility to support their weaker and more vulnerable peers.” Cleary

Thank you for your interest in the Office of Prevention Program’s anti-bullying and positive school culture efforts. We offer a number of avenues for schools to enhance their efforts toward creating safer and more respectful schools. The effectiveness of the type of intervention often relates to its comprehensiveness and the amount of time and/or effort the school is able to dedicate into incorporating them into already existing structures.

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In brief, some options available from the Office of Prevention for violence/bullying prevention and positive school culture are:

1) Research based materials for classroom presentations

a. Get Real About Violence

b. Discovery Health curriculum

2) Classroom Presentations and Exercises

a. Stop Bullying Now – an elementary series of 12 cartoons

b. Reality Avenue - series of 12 half hour prevention programs

c. iSafe - Internet Safety; Internet Bullying/Harassment, free to Broward County employees

3) Assemblies – we rarely conduct assemblies and do not recommend them unless the proper groundwork has been laid through prior staff training and the establishment of schoolwide reporting methods.

4) Trainings/Workshops:

a. Staff Trainings – Highly recommended! Minimum time 1 hour, minimum attendees 30, for a comprehensive training, we prefer 2-3 hours. Staff trainings can also be provided which focus on creating school based intervention systems such as:

i. Peer Counseling/Mediation

ii.  Support Group Method – A seven step non-punitive, support group style of intervention that seeks to change the behavior of students involved in bullying by increasing empathy and peer ownership.

b.  Parent trainings – The minimum time is 1 hour, the minimum attendees is 30.

c. CHAMPs – classroom management is a huge part of bullying prevention and CHAMPs trainings are available.

5) Schoolwide Comprehensive Initiatives

a. Positive School Culture Initiative – an intensive three year program including surveys and data collection.

b. Foundations - a comprehensive, multimedia program (Randy Sprick’s Safe and Civil Schools) that guides schools through the process of designing a positive and proactive school-wide discipline plan over 3 years.

c. Olweus Bullying Prevention Program - OBPP is recognized by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence as one of only eleven Blueprints Model Programs and by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as a Model Program-two of the highest honors a prevention program can attain.

6) Assisted determination of school’s already existing structures, data collection methods and best intervention/prevention options.