Bully Prevention Awareness Week

October 7^th- 11^th

The week of October 7^th-11^th has been designated by the Kansas State Board of Education as Bully Prevention Awareness Week in Kansas.   This action has been taken as a symbol of the commitment to all students in Kansas to have a safe and nurturing school environment. 

Please join us in this week’s special initiative to increase awareness.   Ask your child to tell you about the importance of the week,some of things students have talked about at school and the assembly on Monday, October 7th.   By talking to your child about the importance of kindness and respect for others, you can open up a dialogue that will support this important work of making Heritage a safe school for all! 

Kelly McGonegle, School Counselor


Heritage School Theme:   Be a H.E.R.O.  – Help, Encourage, and Respect Others
Activities at Heritage will include:

Ø School Counseling lessons focused on respect  and bully prevention

Ø Daily student-led announcements about kindness, compassion, and respect

Ø Classroom stories and discussions on bully prevention and kindness

Ø School-wide assembly presented by motivational speaker, Brandon Lee White

Ø 4^th & 5^th grade leadership assembly and activities at Black Bob Elementary 

Bullying 101:

Definition: Bullying is unfair and one-sided.  It happens when someone keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose.  Bullying is carried out with the intent to harm someone.  Bullying is often a repeated activity.  However, bullying may also occur as a one-time event.  Bullying is about a power imbalance.  The person bullying may have more power due to such factors as age, size, strength, support of friends, or access to resources and then uses that power in a hurtful way that is deliberate.

Bullying Behaviors can include: Physically hurting or threatening to hurt someone, social exclusion, insults, name-calling, mean gossip and rumors, and cyberbullying.

Who Bullies?  People sometimes assume that only boys bully, but that is not true.  Girls also bully others.  Boys tend to use more physical or face-to-face bullying behaviors such as hitting, fighting, and threatening.  These are usually easier to see.  Girls bully using physical and verbal attacks, but they often use behind-the-back methods that are harder to see. These more subtle behaviors include getting peers to exclude others and spreading rumors and gossip.  It is important to note that girls and boys can use both face-to-face and behind-the –back bullying.

Isn’t bullying just a normal part of growing up?  Bullying is not a normal part of growing up.  Confusion about the difference between conflict and bullying often makes this myth more believable.  Peer conflict is inevitable and can’t be avoided.  The thing to remember is that in a conflict, both sides have equal power to resolve the problem.  Bullying involves the intentional, one-sided use of power to resolve the problem.

What can I do if my child is being bullied?  Help your child learn to avoid responding in ways that reward bullying behavior.  Explain to your child that people who bully are hoping to get certain reactions.  When the bullied child responds with an assertive response (such as “Stop!  That’s bullying!”), the child doing the bullying may lose interest, and further bullying may be prevented.  Make sure to have your child report a bullying incident right when it happens and get help from an adult at school &/or a parent.  Talk to your child about how reporting is NOT tattling.  Reporting is done to protect you or another student from harm.