Parents Educated on Bullying Prevention - Westfield, NJ Patch

Parents Educated on Bullying Prevention - Westfield, NJ Patch
According to Green, kids who are not involved in school activities and don't have friendships are most at risk and should be easy to identify by staff who can engage and mentor them. "You can identify the kids who are having the worst day of their lives everyday because they are targeted and they feel insecure and they are not engaged," said Green. "That should be an emergency."

Green feels that using school wide approaches work most of the time, "unless the teachers aren't buying into it which means that school leaders aren't selling it hard enough." He said that zero tolerance and peer mediation do not work for bullying. Green recommended that parents use the web site www.njbullying.org for resources related to bullying.

"Our policy allows us to individualize each situation to the child and to the incident," Schmacher said. "It's really about respect, you don't have to like everybody, it's about respecting everybody for their differences."

She reviewed the programs that are being implemented now such as character education assemblies, videos and "Mix-It-Up" day where students don't sit with their friends so they can meet new people.

"It is our job to make sure the school is a safe place for all children," said Schumacher.