Posted June 2, 2010
Nick News Comes to Sand Creek to Discuss Bullying Topic
With bullying among young people making national headlines today, the Nick News program is visiting Sand Creek Middle School in June to see what measures are being taken in South Colonie to help students deal with the problem.
In light of recent high-profile cases across the country involving teen bullying, Sand Creek will be part of a news program airing on national cable station - Nickelodeon - in September that will explore the topic of bullying from the perspective of the students. “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” provides a platform where kids can discuss topics and explore possible solutions.
As Nick News worked to produce the segment, the Coordinating Producer, Jessie Findlay, contacted Sand Creek Middle School to see if staff and students would be interested in sharing their experiences with the Olweus Bully Prevention Program. As one of the few middle schools that has begun working to address the problem, the show’s producer became interested in learning more about what was happening at Sand Creek.
"We were excited to hear that our program was one that others had begun to take notice of,” said Sand Creek Associate Principal Jill Penn.
Sand Creek Middle School has been working with the community to address this crisis that is plaguing our young people for the past two years. Beginning in March of 2008, the Anti-Bullying Committee at Sand Creek began working with Cathy Welling, a Capital Region BOCES certified Olweus Bullying Prevention Program trainer, to develop a program for use at their school.
The Olweus program includes interventions at the school level, in the classroom and with individual students and parents enabling them to address bullying in all areas that it occurs. Bullying has moved well beyond the playground and has become a challenge with which students are faced 24 hours a day. The technology that they have available to them makes it impossible for students to escape the harsh words that can be shot at them from a computer or a cell phone. Although Sand Creek has begun to address this problem, the school knows it will take hard work and dedication to begin to affect a change.
The by-standers, who make up more than 80 percent of the student body at Sand Creek, are the focus of the Olweus program. The by-standers are those individuals who do not engage in the bullying nor are they bullied by others. This segment of the population observes what is happening but does not know how to begin to address the problem.
According to Penn, the Sand Creek staff is beginning to see the by-standers standing up and stepping in when they observe bullying taking place.
“This year, one of our sixth grade students intervened when she saw bullying taking place on the bus," Penn said. "She actually told the other student that picking on someone would not make him feel better, and it wouldn’t solve the problem; it would only make things worse. This is not something we would have heard from our students if we hadn’t begun implementing the program in our building."