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Fit to Be Taught, Vol.18

Creating School-Wide Anti-Bullying Strategies

Approaches to reducing bullying often focus on the conflicts among specific children. But what school counselor Stan Davis advocates and practices is a school-wide anti-bullying approach that encourages and outlines respectful behavior as well as consistent consequences.

Davis, a long-time school guidance counselor and former family therapist, admits he made mistakes early in his career in dealing with bullies and their victims. He thought, as many people did or still do, that bullying during childhood is inevitable. Davis encouraged bullied students to try to ignore their tormentors, to understand why some students bully others, and to stand up for themselves. But then he began rethinking his philosophy, particularly after a bullied boy he'd urged to assert himself came to his office with a black eye.

Now a school counselor in Maine, Davis decided a broader approach to bullying prevention was needed, and began working on a school-wide behavior rubric to encourage positive behavior, discourage bullying, and provide consistent consequences for students not following the policies. The system has met with great success, and Davis now visits schools across the U.S. to help them set up behavior rubrics and offers training sessions in his approach. He also offers advice and resources on his own Web site, Stop Bullying Now . Davis outlines his approach and explains how it can be implemented in his book, Schools Where Everyone Belongs. He talked with Education World about his approach, and the need to address bullying at the school rather than the individual level.

Read the full article on Education World

Wellness News
Kids Will Eat Healthful School Food A University of Minnesota study has found that school lunch sales don't decline when more healthful meals are served, and that more nutritious lunches don't necessarily cost schools more to produce.

More Kids Have Weak Bones Too little milk, sunshine, and exercise mean many U.S. children are not building as much strong bone as they should, according to a study.

Breakfast, Lunch for All

The Cleveland (Ohio) Municipal School District is using Provision 2 of the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to extend breakfast and lunch at no charge to all 77,000 students in the districts 122 schools. Between 75 and 80 percent of the students in Cleveland live in households with incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Since starting Provision 2, Cleveland has seen increases in school breakfast participation across the district, especially among secondary school students, who traditionally eat school breakfasts at much lower rates than elementary school students.

When starting Provision 2, cafeteria managers were asked about their role in making students and parents aware of the availability of universal breakfasts at no charge. To reinforce the message of the Universal Meals Program, mailings were sent to Cleveland parents. Cafeteria managers were asked to promote the program to parents by word-of-mouth.

Cleveland has found many creative ways to increase student awareness of the availability of free breakfasts and lunches for all students. For example, on "Lucky Tray Days," students who participate in school meals have a chance to win prizes. Food vendors who provide school meals to the district donate the prizes, which include t-shirts, sweatshirts, posters, toy cars, finger puppets, and stuffed animals. It has been easy to secure these donations since the vendors recognize that they benefit as more students eat at school.

Read more about this program at: Cleveland Universal Breakfast Program.

Click to learn more about Action for Healthy Kids.

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