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Bully Prevention Program at Kasson-Mantorville!
Kasson-Mantorville uses a program to get rid of bullying. Bullying hurts people’s feelings and makes them scared to even be in school. Kasson Mantorville uses the OLWEUS Bullying Prevention.
Olweus Bullying Prevention Programs
What is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)?
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is a comprehensive framework for educating staff, students and parents about bullying behaviors and implementing concrete, measurable action plans for reducing bullying behaviors in schools and improving school climate. Two key pieces of this framework are teacher-led, weekly classroom meetings with students about bullying behaviors and prosocial alternatives and bimonthly discussion groups among faculty and staff about their building’s educational climate.
As a result of implementation across the elementary program, all Kasson-Mantroville (K – 4) participate in a weekly meeting with their classroom teacher and an additional support person (principal, counselor, instructional support teacher, special education teacher, special subject teacher, or instructional aide). These two adults co-facilitate a classroom meeting with students that addresses student concerns around bullying behaviors at school. Classroom meetings take place at the same time each week as decided upon by respective building staffs. These meetings help students to build relationships in the classroom among themselves and with educational professionals. Typically, teacher and co-facilitator join students in circle discussions. During the initial nine weeks, significant time is spent defining bullying behaviors with students.
- Bullying is purposeful words or actions that are mean or hurtful
- Bullying happens repeatedly
- Bullying happens when there is an imbalance of power
Kasson-Mantorville Elementary has adopted OBPP rules most typically:
- We will not bully
- We will try to help students who are bullied
- We will include students who are left out of games or activities
- We will tell an adult about bullying behavior when we know a student is being bullied
After defining bullying behaviors and sharing rules, classroom meetings begin to focus on building empathetic relationships – friends taking care of friends. Teachers often share books from the library, related quotes and other team building activities with students. There are commonly discussions about being a good friend, including others, and intervening to help others who are being bullied. Discussion topics are flexible and are adapted to proactively resolve emerging issues within a given building and meet students’ individual needs as they share them. The OBPP is only possible through a strong collaborative effort between students, parents, teachers, staff and administration. It is a team approach to support children in our schools, to teach students skills necessary for future successes and to assist in providing the best education possible for each and every student by improving our learning environment.
Who has been/will be trained?
Training was provided to a Core Team in each building consisting of multiple teachers, counselors, principal and school psychologist who then trained all elementary school staff in their respective buildings including:
- Classroom teachers
- Special subject teachers
- Special education teachers
- Counselors
- Building staff
- Building aides
- Principals
Why did the district choose to implement the OBPP?
The Olweus framework is an internationally recognized, research-based, and data driven bullying prevention program. The district implemented OBPP because of its comprehensive approach and proven efficacy in reducing instances of bullying behaviors of all types within elementary and middle school settings. Our ultimate goal is to utilize the OBPP to provide a safer and more inclusive learning environment for all Kasson-Mantorville students. We implemented OBPP because we are striving to create an environment that promotes the best education possible for each and every student.
When and how was the program introduced to professional staff in our school buildings?
Core Teams from Kasson-Mantorville Elementary were trained in the OBPP. These Core Teams then trained all staff members in their respective buildings.
