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01/24/2008: "Bullying, & What You Can Do About It"

A Community Meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 29th at 6:00 p.m. at the Friday Harbor Elementary School will be devoted to “Keeping the Peace, a discussion on bullying”

Childcare will be provided and light refreshments will be served. SJI Prevention Coalition is sponsoring the event, and have extended an invitation to come to the meeting and discuss how the community can provide a more positive environment for our kids, at home, in school and in our community at large. Dr. Fishaut as school physician and local pediatrician will help facilitate the meeting. Jody Metzger, Principal is also involved in the meeting.

For the child that is bullied, there can be additional consequences beyond the expected ones of, for example, the child not wanting to go to school, or when at school being distracted and inattentive due to anxiety and fear of being bullied. For some, the reaction to being bullied, can result in overly defensively aggressive responses, and a child may then become aggressive in inappropriate situations; or even become a bully themselves.

Following are some facts about bullying, which lay out some of the negative consequences of being a bully, but it is also important to understand the negative impacts on a child who is the subject of being bullied.


1. Many children are involved in bullying, and most are extremely concerned about it.

• Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency (“sometimes or more often”) while 15-20% admit that they bully others with some frequency.

• Not only is bullying prevalent, but children and youth report being extremely concerned about it. In a 2003 Harris poll of 8-17 year-old girls, commissioned by the Girl Scouts of the USA, bullying topped girls’ list of concerns regarding their safety. When asked what they worried about the most, the most common response was being socially ostracized-being teased or made fun of. (Feeling Safe: What Girls Say by Judy Schoenberg, Ed.M., Toija Riggens, Ph.D., and Kimerlee Salmond, M.P.P.

Bullying can seriously affect the mental health, academic work, and physical health of children who are targeted.

3. Children who bully are more likely than other children to be engaged in other antisocial, violent, or troubling behavior. Findings from research in the U.S. and abroad indicate that children who bully are more likely to:
• get into frequent fights;
• be injured in a fight;
• steal, vandalize property;
• drink alcohol; and smoke;
• be truant, drop out of school;
• report poorer academic achievement
• perceive a negative climate at school
• carry a weapon
4. Bullying can negatively affect children who observe bullying going on around them—even if they are not targeted themselves.

5. Bullying is a form of victimization or abuse, and it is wrong. Children should be able to attend school or take part in community activities without fear of being harassed, as assaulted, belittled or excluded.

San Juan Island Prevention Coalition: Cynthia Stark-Wickman , Executive.Director 378-9683. http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/index.asp