PREVENTIVE
SOLUTIONS TO SCHOOL
VIOLENCE AND BULLYING
"No Bullying Allowed"
In 1998, Delaware Attorney General
instituted a "bully-proofing" program that has since
evolved into a multi-tiered approach to school violence prevention
and bullying. At th Attorney General's request, Deputy Attorney
General Rhonda Denny (who prosecutes school related crimes) and
the Attorney General's School Crime Investigator/Ombudsman Joseph
Flinn have developed customized programs and messages aimed at
essentially anyone with an interest in the issue. Beginning with
students and branching out to teachers, administrators, parents
and law enforcement, the Delaware approach has been purposeful and
has been enthusiastically received. Inspired, in part, by research
conducted by Clinical Psychologist Dr. Stanton Samenow, several of
these initiatives seek to correct the flawed thought-patterns of
violent students while they can still be readily redirected. Quite
simply, many of these children can still be saved, especially with
modeling and encouragement from their peers and from adults.
• STUDENT ASSEMBLIES - In the last four years,
more than 40,000 students (approximately one-third of all
school-age children in the state) have attended school violence
assemblies hosted by the Delaware Department of Justice. The
Department has also encouraged and trained teachers and school
resource officers to conduct similar programs of their own, thus
reaching many more students. Messages are age-appropriate
but are dually intended to equip students with coping skills and
familiarize them with Delaware's school crime reporting law.
Students participate in role-playing skits based on actual
bullying/violence situations, and they are encouraged to consider
and discuss responsible ways to defuse the threats. They are also
reminded that they have a responsibility to keep their school
safe, and are asked to sign a pledge promising to report rumors or
threats of violence to adults or to the Attorney General's
toll-free school crime hotline.
• SCHOOL CRIME HOTLINE - The toll-free line was
originally created by the Attorney General as a resource for
parents, teachers and students to call the School Crime Ombudsman
if they believed their school was not responding properly to
concerns or incidents of violence. Now students are encouraged to
use the number anytime they know information that might cause them
alarm or worry. The number is included in the "Keep My School
Safe" pledges and in brochures given to the students.
• FACULTY GUIDANCE AND TRAINING - The
Department of Justice regularly conducts workshops for teachers
and administrators to familiarize them with the school crime
reporting law and with the thought-processes that lead to bullying
and violence. Teachers are also recruited to adopt the
bully-proofing program described above for their classes. Schools
have been encouraged to modify student scheduling to minimize free time
in hallways and common areas that could be a source of trouble.
Block scheduling has cut incidents by about half in some schools.
• SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER TRAINING - The
Department of Justice is in regular contact with police officers
assigned to work within Delaware's public schools. The
officers are given guidance and training in both the law and
developing bully-proofing programs.
• WORKSHOPS FOR OTHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COMMUNITY
EDUCATION GROUPS -
The Department has effectively reached out to the state Department
of Education, Parent Teacher Associations, school-based Wellness
Centers and parochial and private schools to generate awareness of
the issues, familiarize them with the law, and encourage
implementation of bully-proofing techniques. Training is also
provided to aspiring educators who are majoring in Education at
the state University.
• POST-ARREST PROCESSING - Delaware has
typically seen a significant number of "copycat" threats
in the aftermath of violent incidents in our nation's schools. The
Attorney General has instituted a policy of asking for no bail
until there is an evaluation of the likelihood that the offender
would actually carry out the threat, and a search of the home of
the offender (to determine if he/she had the ability to carry out
the threat). These searches were often welcomed by parents who
either wanted to prove their child was just "spouting
off" or who wanted to be sure their child was not planning
any harm.
• DIVERSION FOR YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS - With the
consent of the victims of minor crimes committed by juveniles, the
Department of Justice can ask to remove cases from Family Court
and direct the offender to a school diversion program. In New
Castle County, the YES, Inc. program requires up to 25 hours of
community service and the offender typically must write a report
on what they did wrong and how they could have handled the
situation differently. Counselors discuss the report with the
student to reinforce an understanding of the thinking errors.
Occasionally, the offender may have committed a crime (possessing
a weapon in school, for example) out of fear of repeated
bullying. These offender/victims are given skills to better handle
bullying. Upon successful completion of the program, the criminal
case is dismissed. To date, the YES program has handled more than
150 cases; only four students have been charged with new
infractions. A second diversion option in New Castle County is
Community Court, which conducts a similar program.
Another diversion alternative is Teen Court (in Kent and Sussex
Counties), where the actions of the offender are held up to peer
scrutiny from prosecutors and jurors who are also recent youthful
offenders. The experience reinforces for the jurors their
comprehension of the flawed thinking that led to their own
offenses. The defendants may be subsequently sentenced to serve as
future jurors.
• ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS - The Delaware Department
of Education has a statewide alternative school program for
students with disciplinary problems. The Attorney General's office
had provided school resource officers (who are assigned to these
schools) with curricula for teaching classes on responsible
thinking as described by Dr. Stanton Samenow.
