Is Bullying Really A Significant Problem in Schools? 6/30/11

06/30/11 – Yes! And here are the statistics that prove it:

• 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school.
• 1 out of every 4 teens is bullied.
• As many as 160,000 students stay home on any given day because they’re afraid of being bullied.
• 1 out of 5 kids admits to being a bully, or doing some “bullying.”
• 43% of teens fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
• Over 40% of school staff in indicated that bullying is a prominent problem in their school.
• 41% of staff witnessed at least one bullying incident per week.
• 35% indicated that at least one student reported bullying to them in the past month.
• 16% indicated that a parent had reported a bullying incident to them.
• Although willing to intervene in bullying situations, over 50% of school staff surveyed indicated that there were few formal bullying prevention activities present in their schools.
• 60% report that their schools do not have a formal anti-bullying program in place.

(Source: National Education Association 2011 Study; Project Change)

What is Bullying?

Although definitions of bullying vary, most agree that bullying involves:

• Taunting, teasing, name calling, verbal harassment, hitting, kicking, shoving…
• Imbalance of Power: people who bully use their power to control or harm.
• Intent to Cause Harm: the person bullying has a goal to cause harm.
• Repetition: incidents of bullying happen to the same the person over and over by the same person or group.

What can I do as a teen, parent or educator to prevent bullying at school?

The first step you can take as a parent or educator is to attend ING’s bullying prevention session for parents and educators at the annual ISNA Convention on Sunday, July 3, 2011 and invite your children to attend the bullying prevention session for youth at the annual MYNA Convention on Sunday, July 3, 2011. Please see below for additional details.

ING Bullying Prevention Sessions:

At The Annual ISNA and MYNA Conventions
Sunday, July 3, 2011

I. Bullying Prevention: Workshop For Youth
10:00 – 11:30 am
MYNA Convention
Room 23, Rosemont Convention Center, Rosemont, IL

II. Bullying As An Epidemic: Workshop for Educators and Parents
11:45 am – 1:15 pm
ISNA Convention
Room 23, Rosemont Convention Center, Rosemont, IL

Speakers For  Both Workshops
Leticia C. Soto, Senior Attorney, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education
Jennifer Morrison, Youth Mentor with Project Change,
Sydney Sundell, Youth Mentor with Project Change
Robyn Glass, Project Change Executive Director