I took some time this morning and pulled up various school handbooks from neighboring communities just to see what the schools had in place regarding school bullies. Most of the schools had just a small paragraph to cover harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Some read like they have a zero tolerance policy, but most read like a more progressive discipline plan was in place.
A zero tolerance policy means that there is one set outcome for violation of a specific rule. A progressive discipline is where you have a set group of consequences that can happen based on the number of times you get caught breaking the rule.
Most of the progressive discipline policies state varying degrees of consequences based on the severity of the offense and the number of times they've broken the rule. For example, for a first offense a student may have a meeting with the guidance counselor or an after school detention. For the second offense, the student may have an after school detention or in school suspension. For the third offense, the same student may have a 1-3 day suspension or expulsion. This allows for the administrators to determine the severity of the punishment based on the severity of the offense.
In a zero-tolerance atmosphere, consequences for behavior result in suspension or expulsion without the stepping stones in the middle. This type of policy is more conducive to protecting the bully target. It tells the child that is being bullied that the problem is being taken seriously. In cases of progressive discipline, the child is often not seeing any change in how they are treated after the first or second time their bully is punished. If the child is afraid that the bullying isn't going to stop, the child may not even report it. The child is likely to think that the retaliation after turning them in is going to make things worse for them then they already are.
Now logic tells me that someone who has been called down to the office to talk with a guidance counselor is less likely to stop the behavior then someone who has been suspended from school. But is that always the case? Perhaps we need to adapt a new way of handling bullies in our schools. Most will agree that there is a root cause that makes a bully act out. Parents and teachers spend every day with these students, but are they able to see the real reason behind their behavior?
In severe bullying cases, I think it would be wise to enlist the help of guidance counselors or professional psychiatrists to get to the underlying cause of the students aggression. The same should also be done for the bullying victim as well. We've seen how severe causes of bullying can lead to tragedy when the victim as had enough. Back in 1999, 2 high school students released gunfire on their fellow classmates after being tormented in Columbine, Colorado. Currently, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death amongst teenagers. It's important to get today's youth the help that they so desperately need. No child should ever have to worry so much about life that they resort to such desperate measures to stop the pain.
So which policy do you think works best in our schools? Zero tolerance? Progressive Discipline? Or a mix of approaches? Take a moment to read through some of the school handbooks I posted below or search the handbook of your school or your child's school. Tell me what you think and why you feel that's the best way to stop the bullying epidemic in our schools.
Michigan City Indiana School Handbook Page 25
http://www.munster.k12.in.us/mhs/HS-Handbook.pdfMunster Indiana School Handbook Page 29
Lake Central School District (Schererville, Dyer, and St John Indiana) Page 11
(No page numbers were listed on the following websites. I pressed ctrl+f while viewing the page and typed "bully" into the search bar to find the paragraphs)
Merrillville Indiana School Handbook
Valparaiso Indiana School Handbook
Other Resources
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