Aug 26, 2007
John Read Middle School:
Students will join bully study
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by MAGGIE CALDWELL
mcaldwell@thereddingpilot.com
John Read Middle School students will join Joel Barlow High School freshmen and Easton students in their participation in a study of a pilot program to combat bullying.
The Redding school board approved in concept the program at a meeting on Aug. 7. The program is designed to offer tips to students who are identified as potential bullying targets on ways to develop social skills and tactics to ward off physical, psychological and even cyber attacks. The program uses a 100-page digital workbook, called the Video MyBook, which has information and advice for dealing with bullies. The information included in the workbook is based on firsthand experiences, focus groups and psychology research.
A study of the program is being run by Mark Hatzenbuehler, a doctoral candidate in Yale University’s Department of Psychology, and Shan Shan Jiang, a Yale graduate associated with Surviving Bullies, a charity run by Dickon Pownall-Gray.
School administrators stress that there is no outstanding bullying problem at any of the schools.
“We want to emphasize that we are not responding to a problem. We are embracing what we can be,” said Dr. Allen Fossbender, schools superintendent. The program will also not replace any of the social development programs already implemented at the schools.
“This is not in lieu of the proactive activities that take place year round at the school. This is an additional proactive study to both hopefully get data ... on the behavior in our district, and also to support students that may be victims of bullying,” said David Lewson, acting chair of the school board.
Early in the school year, John Read students will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that inquires about different aspects of potential bullying. For example, students will be asked if they have ever received hostile e-mails or instant messages, or if they have ever been physically threatened or verbally harassed. The questionnaire is meant to sift out the at-risk students.
School administrators are working in conjunction with Mr. Hatzenbuehler and Ms. Jiang to design an appropriate questionnaire. Parental input will be a prerequisite for both filling out the questionnaire and participation in the program.
Those identified as being vulnerable to bullying will then be encouraged to use the Video MyBook, which they can look at on their own time over a five-week period.
Participation in the program may provide a number of benefits to the high school. Targets of bullying often exhibit several adverse outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, greater substance use, poorer academic performance and low self esteem.
While the students who participate will remain anonymous, and John Read itself will not be identified in the study, the baseline information that is established by the questionnaire will be shared with school administrators. Additionally, the Yale researchers will contact the parents or guardians of any particular student who reaches what is considered a critical level of concern in his or her responses and provide them with support services to help their child.
So far, the Redding, Easton and Region 9 districts are the only ones that have signed on to participate in the study. The Yale researchers are just at the earliest stages of the study and envision recruiting a wide-variety of different types of middle and high schools in Connecticut.
The goal of the study would be to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the Video MyBook in helping individual targets of bullying. The intention is to make the program available on a statewide basis.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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