Help Wanted

As the school principal, I have many responsibilities. One of the most important tasks is to promote a safe and secure learning environment.

Researchers clearly state that kids can't learn if they don't feel safe. Kids worried about being hurt or humiliated won't be able to concentrate on their teachers, their class discussions, their iPad content, or any of the things they should focus on at school. If kids are stressed out about what other kids (or adults) might do to them, they've got more problems besides not learning. Being consumed by stress or fear is not healthy (physically or emotionally.)

In a bullying situation, the person that is being bullied is called the TARGET. It is my job to help targets and to do all we can to prevent future targeting.

But it is also my job to help people who bully. Did you know that people who bully are likely to have social problems as adults? Did you know that people who bully have high chances of losing jobs, losing relationships, and going to jail? I don't want this for any of you!

And what about people that see bullying? What about the kids that see bullying in the hall or the bathroom? How does bullying impact witnesses? You guessed it. Being a witness to bulling increases stress and distracts from learning.

Getting bullied is bad. Being a bully is bad. Seeing bullying is bad. And being the only person trying to prevent bullying is bad. Help wanted.

I call upon each of you to help prevent bullying at SMS. Over the next few months, we're going to have a series of activities during Connect. We'll look at our school climate survey results, bullying prevention research, and most importantly, we'll work TOGETHER to prevent bullying at SMS.