 Bullying. The experts say that it is aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of power or strength. Typically it is repeated time and time again. It may involve hitting or kicking, teasing or taunting, or it may involve indirect actions such as manipulating friendships or purposely excluding other children from activities. According to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately 30% of all youth in grades 6 through 10 have been bullied or have bullied other children with some frequency within a school term. Mostly girls bully by the gossiping. It's why the girls do it. But many who teach and work at schools may not be aware of all the bullying that's occurring. That's because it's often tough for adults to detect bullying and students don't always report it if they are a victim or if they are a bystander when it's happening. Because like the bully could say you know if you tell they'll beat you up or something like that or they're just afraid or don't know how. Researchers say it's well worth the effort to start a comprehensive school wide bullying prevention program even if there are obstacles. In my experience and in the experience of I think hundreds of educators they're not insurmountable. And the benefits of course for the individual children the staff at your school who report more positive climates for all of us I think are striking. Research confirms that bullying can affect the health emotional well-being and academic performance of children. Students who are bullied are more likely than their peers to have lower self-esteem and higher rates of depression. Report that they feel ill. Have more frequent thoughts of suicide and miss school more often. If you're not feeling safe at your school then maybe during your schoolwork instead of studying or listening to the teacher your mind is focused on the bully like how could I get home faster or how could I try to miss them after school or something. Well a lot of people have better attendance because they don't like have anything to worry about when they come to school. Bystanders those students and adults who are aware of bullying can play a vital role in stopping bullying at school. You're supposed to stand out and stand up and speak out this for others. A study completed by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education about incidents of targeted school violence found that in many cases the student shooters had been bullied persecuted or injured by others prior to the attack. Bullying was not a factor in every case studied and clearly not every child who is bullied in school will pose a risk for targeted violence in school. However in a number of incidents attackers describe being bullied extensively to the level of torment. This elementary school in Pueblo Colorado is about 100 miles from Columbine the scene of the worst school shootings in America. They have learned the tragic lessons from Columbine and other school shootings and that's why they have a school-wide bullying prevention program. The school starts by having students fill out an anonymous survey assessing the nature prevalence and location of bullying incidents. Then the students take a no bullying pledge. We have a poster up there and all the school signed it. It says we will not be a bully. School counselors, teachers and other adults reinforce the message. When we come and support each other and stop bullying by stepping in and let him know that that's not the appropriate behavior. We don't want that in our classrooms. We don't want that on the playground and we don't want that even out in the community. So we're teaching them strategies to use so that they have a bag of tricks to pull from so that they can help themselves when they're in a bullying situation. Bullying prevention is welled into the fabric of school life here. Bullies are a big problem across the schools in America. That's why so many kids are afraid to stand up to bullies. We need to take a stand. Stay around friends and groups to keep safe. Ask an adult for help. Speak up when you see somebody being bullied. Say no to bullies. Experts agree that there are at least 10 elements of an effective bullying prevention program. It should focus on the school environment, meaning what is required to reduce bullying in schools is a change in the school climate, a change in the social norms. This requires a comprehensive school-wide effort involving all adults and students in the school community. Assess bullying at the school. Coordinators can do this by administering an anonymous survey to students to assess the nature, prevalence, and location of bullying. This will help to increase awareness and motivation on the part of adults at the school and will help staff to tailor a bullying prevention strategy to the specific needs of the school. It may also serve as a baseline from which to measure progress in reducing bullying. Coordinators or other school personnel who may be a principal, counselor, or teacher should garner staff support for bullying prevention, such as they are doing at the school in Colorado. And it's got to be a school-wide buy-in, you know. If everybody knows that if I go to the media center, our media specialist is going to act the same way, you know, if I'm a bully there I'm going to get the same consequence in the media center. If I go to a music classroom, our music constructor is going to do the same. When they're in physical education they're going to get the same. So the main thing is to be consistent. Interested parties should form a group to coordinate bullying prevention intervention activities. Bullying prevention shouldn't be owned by one or two people at the school, but rather should be directed by a representative group, including parents. Train staff in issues about what is known about bullying among children and youth, what they can do if they witness and or learn about bullying and how they can help prevent bullying. Establish and enforce school rules and policies regarding bullying. Increase adult supervision in hot spots for bullying. These are places such as bathrooms, hallways, and the playground. Intervene consistently and appropriately in all bullying incidents. Don't force a meeting between the two parties or encourage them to work out their difficulties. Bullying is a form of victimization, not a conflict. Focus some classroom time on bullying prevention and intervention. This can be done by setting aside a small amount of time each week or every other week to discuss bullying and peer relations and by integrating anti-bullying messages throughout the curriculum. And finally, continue these efforts over time. There should be no end date to bullying prevention activities. Bullying prevention should be woven into the fabric of the school. Bullying prevention requires that administrative support. It requires professional development, training opportunities, ongoing, embedded in the school day and throughout the school year and year after year and also you have to have support from administration in your school district in order to make that happen. My view of bullying has changed in the fact that when I grew up, a lot of the times the bullies in school were considered the cool kits. They could get away with anything. They were, you know, that's why they could bully is because they were the popular ones. They were at Fountain. That is not the case. And if you are caught bullying you're ostracized. You are not considered cool and it's really amazing as a parent seeing the children thinking the bully is the nerd, so to speak, as opposed to the cool kit anymore. It's completely turned around.