The state will unveil a new campaign to fight bullying and cyberbullying in schools Tuesday that will include more training for educators, better efforts to identify and help kids who are bullied, and increased outreach to stop bullying before it starts.
The work, in the wake of a new state law that requires the Department of Education to regulate student compliance with its own rules on bullying and harassment, comes as the federal government is urging states to do more to tackle school bullying and cyberbullying.
“We’re all fully committed to curb bullying at every school via a coordinated and unified campaign,” said Board of Education member Keith Amemiya, vice chairman of the Student Achievement Committee and the body’s point man on the issue of bullying. “It’s clear bullying is an issue in Hawaii and across the country.”
At a recent anti-bullying assembly at Farrington High School, several students said bullying was something they saw — or felt — every day.
“It’s everywhere,” said freshman Jessica Zane.
Mason Semisi, a sophomore, agreed, saying that he regularly witnesses bullying and cyberbullying, which involves messages by email or on social networking sites. “It makes the person feel bad.”
Sitting nearby, junior Johannes Nukuto said bullying sometimes pushes students to the point where they skip class. “They don’t want to come to school,” he said.
The DOE said the “peaceful schools” initiative will be a work in progress over the next two years and require $1 million in funding for additional staff and training for administrators and teachers.
But officials plan to start immediately on some pieces of the campaign, which the state will kick off with a series of public service announcements featuring several University of Hawaii student athletes.
As part of the start of the initiative, the department is releasing bullying and cyberbullying statistics collected for the first time last school year. DOE officials warn, though, that the data might understate the problem because of questions among school administrators over what constitutes a bullying offense versus a harassment offense.
The figures, in bar chart form, show that Hawaii island’s Kealakehe complex had the highest number of reported bullying incidents in the 2010-11 school year, with 39. The Maui complex had the second-highest number of incidents, with 34, followed by the Campbell complex with 32.
The Kalani complex has the fewest bullying offenses, with two.
Regarding cyberbullying, several complexes reported no offenses. The Keaau complex had the most, with 14. Leilehua and Kaiser complexes tied for the second-highest number, at 10.
Dale Asami, DOE student support branch acting director, said schools will need guidance on how to better collect bullying data. The initiative, he said, is meant to step up awareness of bullying and increase monitoring of problems so they can be dealt with.
Some schools, he said, will need more help than others.
“There’s no one solution,” Asami said. “It’s going to take a lot of different components. We’re really looking at it as a comprehensive student support. All schools will have those (same) expectations.”
As part of the new initiative, the DOE will:
>> Require schools to collect annual data on bullying and cyberbullying, allowing the department to get a better grasp on the schools facing the biggest issues and address “hot spots.”
>> Work to ensure students who are bullied get immediate help from schools and that schools work quickly to stop reported bullying.
>> Provide interventions to students who have been reported as bullies and try to minimize the likelihood they’ll continue to bully. The department also wants to stop bullying before it starts by offering services to students exhibiting bullylike tendencies
It’s still unclear, however, how that would work at the school level. Officials said more detailed instructions will be going out to schools in the near future and that training will be needed to help tackle the issue.
The campaign is meant to supplement other ongoing projects to tackle bullying, including a plan to beef up training for high school security officers that will help them better defuse tense situations.
In July the DOE received a $200,000 federal grant to work to improve the climates of school statewide. In addition to more training for security officers, the funds are going to pay for school assemblies on bullying with a nationally renowned speaker and workshops for school administrators that will discuss trends in cyberbullying.
The workshops will also explore the correlation between student achievement and bullying, while additional training — expected to be provided to all school employees online — will discuss ways to stop bullying and emphasize that doing so is everyone’s responsibility.
Mark Behrens, acting director of the DOE safety, security and emergency preparedness branch, said the school climate programs will need not only the support of school employees, but also of parents and other community members — all adults in a child’s life.
“If you really want to make headway, you need community involvement,” Behrens said. “It’s the whole umbrella” of support.
It’s difficult to gauge the scope of the bullying problem in Hawaii compared with other states, but some point to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of public middle and high school students as one indicator.
In 2009 the survey showed Hawaii had the highest percentage of students who said they had seriously considered attempting suicide. Advocates say that relates to the bullying issue because of recent increases in teen suicide motivated by bullying or harassment.
Farrington Principal Al Carganilla said the school is working to improve student achievement, and sees stopping bullying as key to that effort.
“It’s just a small percentage of kids” who are bullying, he said. “If we can get that turned around … we can be a better school.”
The Farrington High assembly, which was funded by the school climate grant and also held at nine other Hawaii schools last month, featured speaker Stephen Sroka, who has been recognized for his work in addressing school violence at schools nationwide.
He opened the assembly by telling kids that he grew up in tough circumstances and was ridiculed by teachers and peers because of a learning disability.
“Some people are just mean,” he told students.
Sroka’s message was that “school safety needs you” and that intervening to help a student who is being bullied could save a life.
His mantra is “The power of one.”
After the assembly a number of students approached Sroka to tell him his message had hit home. Sroka said students need to know that they are valuable and that there are people — adults and peers — who can help them, whether they’re bullying or being bullied.
“It’s not about bullying,” he said. “It’s about mental health.”
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Video: Anti Bullying PSA
Anti Bullying PSA Spot 1 from Searider Productions on Vimeo.
