An anti-bullying training for parents and community members will be held at John F. Kennedy High School on Wednesday, Nov. 14. Principal Chad Sweitzer hopes it will help make parents aware of how they can support school staff at home by knowing what to look for when it comes to bullying.

Sweitzer said he has seen a huge increase in bullying through technology, on the Internet on Facebook and Twitter and via texting. He said many times the bullying will occur over a weekend with one student saying something about another on Facebook, and come Monday morning rumors are flying. “We always try to bring the kids in and sit them down face-to-face with some of our students that do peer mediation or with our counselors on campus and try to work out the problems,” he said.
Sweitzer would like to see their auditorium, which can hold about 450, filled to capacity for this training.

The training is part of a district-wide crackdown on bullying that began in June 2011 when the Sacramento City Unified School District’s Board of Education approved a new anti-bullying policy aimed at reducing incidents of bullying on campus and in cyberspace.

According to Sheila Self, bullying prevention specialist for SCUSD, this policy spells out rules and regulations that reflect changes that have occurred in California law as it relates to bullying.

Additionally, she said there is a greater understanding of the health consequences of bullying. She said students who are bullied have three times as many headaches and twice as many sleep problems and stomachaches, plus feelings of depression and anxiety.

“We’re beginning to understand that it’s not just about the right of passage, but that bullying has a direct effect on to our health and in terms of feeling safe at school on our academic performance,” Self said.

Sweitzer said last year’s anti-bullying information session was well-attended.

“The parents asked a lot of questions, I think they even learned a thing or two, and learned what the responses can be when the students are being bullied and who they can turn for help on the school campus,” he said.

Providing Tools

One person very happy SCUSD is stepping up to provide anti-bullying training to parents is Pocket resident Maria Sullivan. She worked last year with Self to bring a similar anti-bullying program to Genevieve Didion K-8 after both her children – now 4th and 7th graders – were the victims of bullying.

Sullivan said programs like these has helped her have the tools she needs to teach her children how to handle bullies. “(My son) thought it was his fault because kids didn’t like him, and now he has the skills that he doesn’t think it’s his fault and if he doesn’t think it’s right, he knows he has the right to say something,” she said.

Additionally, Sullivan said anti-bullying programs also help teach parents what to do if it’s their child who is the bully. Most parents, who have a child who bullies, don’t know it. “It’s not because you’re a bad parent, it’s just that you don’t understand and they don’t understand it’s not okay,” she said. “Sheila’s program gives the kids that skill on both sides of the fence.”

Getting Involved

So what will parents who attend the anti-bullying program at JFK High School learn?

Self said they will learn a number of things about bullying, including just what the scope of the problem is, myths, what SCUSD’s anti-bullying policy is, and how to report bullying. “Parents will get a really good sense of both sides of the coin – if your child is actually bullying others or if your child is being targeted,” she said. “We are very much promoting working with both students in order to remediate the bullying on campus.”

In addition, Self hopes parents who attend the anti-bullying training become confident communicators with their kids about bullying. “I think becoming more hopeful that this isn’t something that has to continue, that we can take action to stop it when we see it, and that we can have safe school campuses where learning really can take place,” she said.

Sweitzer said the training promotes parental involvement, including the need to monitor students’ cell phones and Facebook pages. “As a high school student, I would imagine I wouldn’t want my parents looking at my Facebook page, but parents still need to be active participants in what’s going on in their kids’ lives and that’s a huge part of it,” he said.

And Sullivan said it’s important for parents to take part in an anti-bullying training like this to help them understand what their children are confronted with and how to offer support.

“Bullying is real and to protect your child so your child does not become a victim . . . we have to make sure they have the tools to succeed,” she says. “It’s important that parents step up and are there.”

corrie@valcomnews.com

This year, 13 million American kids will be bullied, and three million students will be absent because they feel unsafe at school.

BULLY is a newly-released film that shows the impact bullying has on American school children. The film follows the lives of five students over the course of a year. / Photo copyright, The Weinstein Company. All rights reserved

These two facts were taken from the official website for the documentary “Bully,” which will be opening at the Tower Theater in Land Park on April 13.

The movie shows the impact bullying can have by following the lives of five children from different areas of the United States and how the bullying they are enduring has affected them and their families. The documentary was filmed over the course of the 2009-2010 school year.

Mike Oliver, owner and lead instructor of Zen Martial Arts Center at the Coloma Community Center in East Sacramento, has been following the news about “Bully” since he first heard the documentary was being made. He plans to view it and take some of his students with him.

That’s because Oliver teaches “verbal judo” to both kids and adults as a tactic to combat bullies without resorting to violence. He says it’s the same type of system taught to law enforcement officials to deal with criminals in a non-violent way.

“We’ve adapted those same principles that they use, but teaching it to kids so they can use the same skills, the same techniques to deal with bullies on the playground or school,” he explains.

Oliver feels the movie will have a big impact on those that see it because the film shows the personal side of bullying.

“You’re going to actually see and meet the kids and learn about them and see the things that are happening,” he explains.

Another supporter of “Bully” is Carmichael resident Lisa Ford-Berry, founder of BRAVE (Bullies Really Are Violating Everyone) Society. Ford-Berry founded BRAVE Society after her son, Michael, took his own life in 2008 and she found out he had been the victim of bullying at school.

Ford-Berry says BRAVE Society was asked to partner with the movie’s production studio, The Weinstein Company, to help promote “Bully” in Sacramento. Ford-Berry also urges people to see the movie and she hopes the movie will “shock the daylights” out of people.

“Something has got to be shocking enough that you look around and think, ‘My goodness, these are normal, average families that this is happening to,’ and parents need to be fearful,” she says. “I’m hoping that this movie opens it, blows the doors off of everything and gets the conversations where they need to be.”

For more information on “Bully,” visit www.thebullyproject.com.

Three tips for bullying victims

Mike Oliver, owner and lead instructor of Zen Martial Arts Center in East Sacramento, offers three tips for kids if they are being bullied.

Document it

Oliver says write down the date, the time, and people involved so there is a record of what happened.

Report it

Kids need to report what happened to somebody in charge, such as a parent or teacher, Oliver says.

Ask for help

Oliver says many kids never tell anyone they are being bullied, which can lead to dire consequences.

“I always encourage kids and families to talk to somebody about it so they can at least get a sympathetic ear or maybe get some help to learn how to deal with it,” he adds.