“Bullying has evolved” over the past 30-plus years since Nancy Braun’s public school graduation. The means to combating bullying also have evolved, with teachers becoming more attuned to the warning signs and sympathetic, confidential communications channels enabling students to overcome their fears and seek adult protection.
Braun is a special education supervisor and, for the past eight years, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) District coach with Normal’s Unit 5 schools. A 29-year Unit 5 veteran and a special education teacher for 23 years, she also assists with the district’s cyberbully hotline – a crucial resource for students being persecuted in school often as a consequence of afterschool activity.
Despite its label, students and parents are welcome to call the hotline (actually a shared junior high hotline and separate hotlines for Normal Community and Normal West high schools) to report either online or offline bullying incidents. Callers may remain anonymous, though Braun notes the majority provide basic information for response either by their school’s administrator or Braun.
“I see every call that comes in, and then I check with that school,” she related. “If we don’t know who that call is for, I’ll email back, I’ll ask some more questions, get some more information, and then we can get things headed in the right direction.
“When the hotline first rolled out a couple years ago, we got a lot of calls. Every year, the junior highs and the high schools bring it back up (with students) – there are posters in the schools with those numbers listed. The kids can call call or text or whatever and say, ‘This is what’s happening on the bus, in the locker room,’ and then I or the administrator will email back.
“I think it’s been a good first step for us. Some of these kids don’t feel comfortable going straight into a principal’s office or to an administrator or to a counselor, but as we get more information, we can encourage them to do that, to tell their parents, so we can get things going in the right direction and tackle the issue.”
All 24 Unit 5 schools are PBIS schools, with three level of behavioral support. “Universal” support focuses on teaching all students proper behavior in the hallway, restrooms, buses, and other environments. Unit 5 junior highs also incorporate advanced Peaceful Schools anti-bullying programs. PBIS itself includes an “Expect Respect” initiative that’s spawned various programs and projects based on the needs of individual kindergarten through 12th grade classes.
Braun is encouraged that teachers have become more vigilant toward bullying or potential bullying “as things have gotten harder.” In many cases, problems begin outside school, on Facebook or other social networking channels, “and then we’re left with the aftereffects,” she reported.
A major share of hotline contacts originate as texts (“Kids are mostly texters”) from students on the bus after school, enabling the district to track onboard video footage detailing bullying incidents. “The two hottest spots are buses and locker rooms,” Braun stated.
Braun sees a far more positive environment today for developmentally challenged and other special needs students, thanks to “the level of inclusion, starting as early as elementary schools,” in both Unit 5 and neighboring District 87 schools. In fact, she has seen no hotline calls involving bullying of those students.
What has worsened is “girl on girl” bullying – what Braun characterizes as “the mean girl mentality.”
Braun sees parents playing a vital role in preventing and reducing bullying, by controlling their own behavior and speech in front of their kids and being an active part of “the community within the school,” including the student’s entire family unit.
“Sometimes, we can only touch that kid from 8 until 4,” she nonetheless lamented. “At least, we can make positive changes for that little amount of time we have them.”
Contact your school to learn about anti-bullying efforts and hotline/reporting resources.