Schools

VIDEO: Today, Montville High Kids Will Pledge Not to Bully

Take a quiz to find out how much you know about bullying

Bullying doesn’t look much like the picture you have in your head. Not these days.

These days, bullying looks like being slammed on Facebook. It looks like nasty texts. It looks like psychological warfare on a teenage scale.

And so, fighting it looks different, too.

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One of the ways to fight it, Montville High School Principal Chad Ellis hopes, is for students to take an anti-bullying pledge.

The pledge, he says, is based on a prom pledge, and by taking it, the student promises not to bully other students.

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It’s an honor-system-type thing,” Ellis says, “and it raises awareness. It gets everybody to think about it.”

The peer mediators in the high school are sponsoring the pledge, which has been organized and planned by the students, Ellis says.

Kids who take the pledge will sign their names to a public document, and will probably wear a ribbon, or piece of yarn, signifying that they signed.

 

THE PLEDGE IS PART OF AN ONGOING SERIES of activities at the high school, designed to raise awareness of bullying, to draw attention to the problem, and to help improve the school climate.

Ellis says that everyone asks if the anti-bullying programs at the high school are related to the death of

Ellis says that Montville High School – and the other schools in the system – have long had Positive Behavior and Intervention Support teams, all of which are focused on improving school climates.

It is really the kids, he says, who have to own the changes.

“Every adult in this building could talk until they’re blue in the face,” he says. If the students don’t take charge of the change, it will not happen.

And, he says, “when you ask kids to take on serious issues, they will do it.”

 

ABOUT 25 STUDENTS ATTENDED

Ellis was not dismayed by the small crowd.

“At the meeting, I was deeply impressed by the level of discussion, and by the ideas,” he says.

The pledge fits more easily into students’ busy schedules, and so more kids might be able to participate.

 

THERE ARE OTHER ACTIVITIES planned for the school year, too:

Cross-the-Line: A group of students gets together and questions are asked. If you’ve ever been called a name, cross the line. If you’ve ever been told you weren’t good enough, cross the line.

The questions continue, and students keep crossing the line. The point of the exercise is to show commonality. The more students know about each other, Ellis says, the less likely they are to bully each other.

Mix-It-Up Day: Students will be required to eat lunch with someone they’ve never eaten with before.

Awareness Exercise: Many students use the words “retarded” and “gay” to mean “dumb” and “stupid.” Simply raising students’ awareness that people could be hurt by these usages can help stop them from those usages.

 

HERE'S A TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ, from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance program

  1. Nearly one-third of American teens are involved in bullying, true or false?
  2. Fewer than 10 percent of American teens admit to bullying, true or false?
  3. Students who are bullied usually participate in class and have good attendance, true or false?
  4. Most students who bully are insecure, true or false?
  5. Witnesses often end friendships with the victim of bullying and feel guilty for not reporting the incident, true or false?
  6. Bullies have trouble making friends, true or false?
  7. Most bullies discontinue aggressive behavior in adulthood, true or false?
  8. Nine out of 10 lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered students have been bullied, true or false?

To find the answers, click here.


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