Bullying

Bullying is never tolerated in the school I am in, but you do have to be creative in solving that problem. If you teach ED&BD students, you have to come to grips with the fact that much of what we consider bullying has to do with the environment the child was exposed to growing up. This in no way condones the behavior, but a child who is the product of domestic violence compared to a child who is the product of two loving parents is most likely going to result in different outcomes. If the parents or adults surrounding a child approved of a bully-like attitude, then it should be expected that the child will pick up on this attitude. Many of the students I deal with on a daily basis miss-perceive everything as an attack on them until they can form some kind of trust with you.

For this reason, depending on the level of the bullying, the first step is to try to get the bully to recognize their behavior as being inappropriate and harmful to another human being. As easy as it is for us to recognize the bully, it is not at all easy for the bully to recognize their behavior as being negative. For them, it is a learned behavior, a way to stand up for yourself and your needs. The needs of others are not factored in to the bully’s perspective.  

When a child comes to me about being bullied, the first step is to recognize and acknowledge the problem. The next step is to confront the bully about the issue and see if it is possible to get them to recognize the harm of their actions. This is done in conjunction with a social worker. Eventually, the hope is to bring the two students together, with the bully acknowledging their behavior and the harm he or she did, better known as restorative justice. 

 This does not alleviate a consequence for the bullying. Depending on the level of the infraction and the number of infractions, specific actions are taken. This could amount to an in school suspension, an out of school suspension or even a due process hearing to be expelled or the police called.