Schools must address bullying
courtesy photo
Montana schools must address bullying to receive accredation beginning this year.
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
LAKE COUNTY — Montana schools will have to address bullying to receive accreditation as a result of a July 31 rule implemented by the Office of Public Instruction. Although most schools already have bullying policies in effect, local parents and educators acknowledge there is room for improvement.
“I know that last year here in Arlee one of the fifth grade teacher’s methods of dealing with bullying was to punish the whole class, which I didn’t feel was right,” Girl Scout troop leader Roxy Strickland said. “Also, I know we’ve had a lot of issues with the teachers who look the other way and figure the kids will handle it themselves.”
Strickland’s Girl Scout group experienced bullying problems last year. The troop, which has schoolgirls in kindergarten through the seventh grade, watched an American Girl movie that dealt with bullying and talked about it afterward.
“I was surprised to find out nine out of 10 of my girls were being bullied,” Strickland said. “They didn’t know how to talk to their parents. They said that the teachers knew what was going on but tend to turn their back on them.”
Arlee High School principal Jim Taylor said the Arlee school district has an anti-bullying policy in place. Punishments for bullying can be as mild as talking with a counselor or as severe as suspension, depending on the frequency and nature of the incidents.
“If a parent feels their child is being bullied what they need to do is come in and talk with us so we know,” said Taylor.
He said the district does a lot to keep students from being bullied inside school doors, but it is challenging to monitor cyberspace where some of the harrassment occurs.
“People can go online and post anything and there’s not much any of us can do about it,” he said. “We try to do everything we possibly can though.”
In Ronan, the school district completed a rigorous five-year program called Safe Schools, Healthy Kids more than a year ago. Grant money paid for educators and students to be trained in ways to decrease bullying.
“The data that the grant derived said that we were headed in the right direction but without those resources we wouldn’t be as far as we are,” superintendent Andy Holmlund said.
Even though the funding for the training has stopped, the students and teachers now have the tools to help prevent the problem, Holmlund said.
“They have been trained in identifying and recognizing preventatives and how they can remove themselves and other students to be away from those situations, but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be here,” he said. “It’s due diligence on everyone’s part.”
Teaching kids bullying requires a complete rewiring of what society says is acceptable, according to Holmlund.
“It’s 24/7,” he said. “We live in a society that is versed on it. I don’t care if you are talking about the best athlete, I don’t care if you are talking about a business dealing. There is always a shift of one person trying to position themselves for an advantage. That itself manifests throughout one’s life.”
Montana has faced criticism for being the only state without any form of anti-bullying law. The Office of Public Instruction’s new rule requires schools to address “bullying and threatening behavior in schools, on school buses, at school-sponsored activities, and online,” but leaves much of the policy-making up to the schools.
Strickland said she is in favor of a state-mandated uniform policy.
“I would love for something to be put into place, because unfortunately with Arlee being such tiny little town, you know, we’re big on sports, we’re big on this, that, and the other thing, but when it comes to what’s really going on at school with the bullying, it’s out of hand,” Strickland said.
