ROGERS -- Students are preparing to confront bullying with kindness at Rogers High School.
During presentations Thursday, students talked about issues and ideas for how they could start the "chain reaction of kindness" promoted by an assembly from the organization Rachel's Challenge.
By The Numbers
Bullying In America
National statistics indicate bullying is a problem in school. In a survey of 12- to 18-year-olds:
• 27.8 percent said they had been bullied at school.
• 18.3 percent said they were the subject of rumors.
• 17.6 percent said they were insulted or called names.
• 9 percent of students said they had been cyber-bullied.
• 7.9 percent said they had been pushed, shoved, tripped or spit on.
• 5.5 percent said they were purposefully excluded from activities.
• 5 percent said they were threatened.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
At A Glance (w/logo)
Don’t Allow Bullying
Teens who see bullying or confrontations in the hallway can make it stop. Tips from the Rachel’s Challenge include:
• Move a friend away from a confrontation, ask if they are OK.
• Break up people who aren’t getting along with a song or change of conversation.
• Intercept a friend who is being put down and change the subject to something more positive.
• Reach out to someone after a confrontation is over.
• Tell friends when their behavior is out of bounds.
• Tell a teacher or a counselor if a fight is about to break out.
Source: Staff Report
Some teens talked about students pushing others in the halls or teasing special needs kids. Others said they didn't really see a problem with physical or verbal violence at the school, but rumors are a problem.
Teens brainstorming ideas Thursday said their peers can be embarrassed to be kind.
"It's like it's cool to be mean," said Anna Leon, junior.
"There's no such thing as a small compliment or a small insult," said Meichelle Gibson, presenter with Rachel's Challenge.
Gibson challenged students to give others at least three chances to prove themselves, an idea inspired by the journals of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student to die during the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
Rachel was remembered by her fellow students for small acts of kindness: turning around a bad first day of school by sitting with the new girl during lunch or standing up for a special needs student who was being pushed around.
"People will never know how far a little kindness will go," Rachel wrote weeks before her death.
Gibson pitched ideas of "targeted kindness" to the 100 students nominated to kick off a Friends of Rachel student club.
They can create a welcoming committee that gives tours to transfer students, flood social media with positive posts or create a mixed up lunch day that posts limits on how many band members or football players can sit at one table, Gibson said.
The mixed up lunch is a good idea, said Josh Andrews, a sophomore.
"I don't think a lot of people realize what's going on if they're in a sport," said Landon Cradduck, a sophomore.
Football players spend hours together practicing and playing, and they just naturally meet up at lunch, he said. They don't realize that other people feel excluded and other people don't realize how many hours the team puts in together.
Gossip is a problem, said Jessica Bate, a junior. People just get bad things going and it's hard to stop them, she said. The club may help people feel more connected, she said.
Teacher Jessie Lorimer told students about her sixth-grade year. She lost most of her friends and all her hair that year.
"Everybody thought that it was really weird," she said.
One friend stuck with her and told her she was beautiful. That positive reinforcement was important, she said. Kindness needs to be celebrated to make it cool, she said.
Official definitions of bullying vary. Nearly a third of 12- to 18-year-olds reported they had been bullied at school during 2011, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report. About 8 percent said they had been physically harassed. Others reported they were the subject of rumors, shunned or routinely insulted.
"Bullying in the cyber age is becoming more and more prevalent in our offices," said Ron Highfill, assistant principal.
"Any kid can broadcast to 1,000 other kids in a minute some disgraceful picture or a saying or something. It's very difficult to stop," he said.
Students who get caught up in sharing a post can end up as part of the discipline process, he said.
Nine percent of students reported cyberbullying, according to a National Center for Education Statistics report.
Principals at Rogers go through a checklist to define what they discipline as bullying, Highfill said. Persistent physical or verbal aggression, teasing or name calling, shunning or rumors qualify. Texts and online insults are easier to document, Highfill said, but that doesn't negate hallway chatter.
Kids can be depressed and hurting from treatment they get from their peers at school, said Susan Phillips, president of the school's parent teacher organization. The Rogers High School Parent Teacher Organization paid for the presentation with donations and a Walmart grant.
The lesson of kindness isn't included in English or math classes, but it's valuable for students to hear at school, said Shea Dolan, a parent.
"They don't realize that what they're doing is really hurting people," Dolan said.
Students said people are judged on clothes or classes they take. A few mentioned cyberbullying or people shoved or bumped in the hallways.
Gibson told students to remember that people who hurt others may have issues they can't see.
"If kindness is emphasized then bullying has no place," Gibson said.
NW News on 08/23/2014