Not In Our School kicked off at Normal's Glenn Elementary School Friday in an effort by the Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal program to reach children at an earlier stage.
Glenn Elementary held an assembly to kick off “Kindness Month,” during which students will be rewarded for acts of kindness, including defending against bullying. WJBC was on hand to interview participants in the program, which previously established a base in Twin Cities junior high and high schools.
"Just like anything else, the earlier you start the better!" NIOT:B/N Education Chairman Camille Taylor related. "The mission of Not In Our School is to stop hate, address bullying, and create a safe, inclusive community. Children at the elementary level, from kindergarten through fifth grade, can learn specific skills to be an upstander when they witness bullying.
"They can also learn the importance of speaking up and speaking out to make their learning environment safer. Students will become accustomed to this and expect/demand that their school environment be like this as they progress through middle and high school."
Jan Meadows, a retired teacher who according to Taylor helped NIOS "make the Glenn connection," stressed kindergarten is "the beginning of outside the family socialization."
"We start at the beginning," Meadows said. "That is where we start. When we expect high schoolers to succeed in algebra, we forget that once they didn't know any numbers. The same applies for social skills. When we teach the littlest child the language and the actions of inclusion, they accept it, they practice it, we reward and recognize their efforts and they will use it. "
"We often don't recognize that our brains are wired to search out danger in all settings, anything that looks or sounds different sets off internal alarms. But just like other biological responses the brain learns to accept and ignore these alarm triggers through practice and knowledge. These are skills we can and must teach our children."
Taylor reported Unit 5 and Bloomington District 87 superintendents have given "100 percent support" to NIOS developing elementary-level programs on a school-by-school basis.