Sep 08, 2006  |  By: ELIZABETH A. PERRY  | COMMENTS     

The Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Commonwealth University have teamed up with local schools to implement a bully prevention program that does not directly address anti-gay harassment in schools.

The Olweus Bully Prevention Program is designed to address the behavior of individuals and bystanders in a general way, teach conflict resolution skills and promote parent, school and community education and collaboration.

“We look at all aspects of bullying,” said Dr. Katie Moffett, program coordinator at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for School Community Collaboration, “including physical, verbal, gestures, note passing, Internet posting, name-calling. We are well-aware that LGBT kids are targeted, but everyone can be targeted.”

Moffett will be lead trainer for the Olweus program when it is implemented this month. The project is funded for three years by a $300,000 annual grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. It was launched in Norway in the early 1980s by Professor Dan Olweus at the University of Bergen and has been used in the United Kingdom, Germany and the U.S., where it was implemented in 1995.

The U.S. Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration said the program reduced students’ reports of general antisocial behavior, such as vandalism, fighting and theft. It also improved classroom order and discipline, and fostered a more positive attitude toward school.

“If one kind of bullying is overlooked, kids will increase bullying in all areas,” said Moffett. “We help kids identify what bullying looks like. In the Olweus program, we say bullying is exerting power over another repeatedly over time. Kids try out bullying and if they find it works, they keep doing it. If they find adults don’t accept it, then the kids won’t accept it, and they won’t bully anymore.”

The program has no lesson plans or books assigned, although kids can go to their teachers for recommendations. Instead, desks are pushed back and students sit in a circle to discuss issues that are bothering them. The emphasis is on discussion of acceptable verses unacceptable behaviors but not on personal problems.

“If a child brings up an issue we think kids will tease them about later, we ask them to hold the thought,” said Moffett. “And the teacher follows up with the student later or makes a referral to a counselor. If they talk about an LGBT issue as it relates to them personally, or to someone specifically, we encourage them to talk privately to an adult.”

Anti-gay violence
in schools on rise

According to statistics from the Virginia Department of Health, 12,709 incidents of crime and violence against public school students were reported during the 2003-2004 school year. These incidents included physical assault, threats, bullying and an attempted rape. The statistics did not reflect how many of the perpetrators and victims were gay.

The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network says that to be effective at protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students from bullying, schools should address issues of sexual orientation and gender identity directly with students, faculty and staff.

In April 2005, a national survey of 1,732 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens between 13 and 20 by GLSEN reported almost two-thirds had been verbally harassed because of sexual orientation and half because of gender identity.

More than a third of those surveyed suffered anti-gay physical harassment, and 25 percent experienced anti-transgender physical harassment. The GLSEN School Climate study also reported that only 16.5 percent of students surveyed said school staff members often intervened when they heard anti-gay insults. Some 18 percent of respondents said they heard staff members make homophobic comments.

“The problem is that school officials need to be prepared to respond the same way to all instances of bullying,” said Eliza Byard, deputy director of GLSEN. “[Anti-gay bullying] is one that people are reluctant to deal with. It is crucial to name this problem, just as it is to name other elements of the bullying issue. The problem is not necessarily different, but this is a subject that gets left out because people don’t want to deal with it.”

Moffett said that teachers who will be trained in the Olweus program will look at gay issues by addressing the vulnerability and high suicide rate of kids who are targeted. She said that any child who is bullied on a regular basis needs support.

Under the Olweus program, a child who is harassed can report the incident to an adult. The adult tracks the behavior of the victim and the bully, but does not jump in right away to intervene unless there is physical injury ...