In the Rogue River School District we are very serious about bullying. Bullying is extremely harmful to growing children and is NOT just a part of growing up. You can help us. One of the greatest obstacles we face in eradicating bullying behavior is misunderstanding. Please read and understand what bullying is:
Bullying = Harm + Unfair match + Repetition
Where
- Harm means someone gets hurt – physically, socially, or emotionally
- Unfair match means that the targeted student or group of students does not have the physical, verbal, or social means to effectively resist the bullying behavior
- Repetition means that the harm and unfair match are repeated over a period of time
When we don’t discriminate bullying from other behaviors such as horseplay, rudeness, fighting, and not getting along two things happen. Action may not be taken when it is needed, or real bullying behavior may not to receive attention as quickly as it should because there are non-bullying behaviors reported as bullying.
Real bullying is truly harmful and needs immediate attention. A child who is targeted and repeatedly harmed in an unfair match will to lose hope. The physical and mental harm can last a lifetime if we (you and I) don’t step in. When all three of the conditions (harm, unfair match, and repetition) happen together the result can be dramatically worse than when only some of those conditions are met.
Harm is wrong, but it isn’t bullying. An unfair match is wrong, but it isn’t bullying. Harm and an unfair match together are very wrong, but they don’t pose the same danger that bullying does.
Please stand with me against bullying. Recognize real bullying when you see it, and take immediate action. That action may be as simple as telling an administrator what you have seen. Educate your children about what bullying is. Help us reduce false claims of bullying so that we can concentrate on real bullying behavior.
When you see bullying behavior ask yourself:
- Is someone being hurt?
- Is the person being hurt unfairly matched?
- Is this unfair match and harm repeated over time?
When all three are present report this as bullying. When all three are not present report it anyway, but not as bullying.
