Bullying on the Rise in Schools

With school starting just around the corner, anticipation and excitement are running through the minds of my children. However, a parent’s worst nightmare is their child bullied by other student(s). Bullying has been around but seems to be happening at earlier ages and more frequently. In today’s schools, cyber bullying has now taken over bathroom graffiti. According to an American Justice Department statistic, one out of every four kids will be abused by another youth and that 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, and physically. The sad part is one out of five kids admit to being a bully or doing some “Bullying.”

What makes a person a bully? A study conducted by The Center for Adolescent Studies at Indiana University, on 558 sixth to eighth-graders compared bullying and non-bullying children regarding their home environment and behaviors where bullies watch more violent TV at home; spend less time with adults at home; have fewer positive role models and peer influences; and have extreme disciplining by their parents.

Following observations resulted from the analysis of the family and social environment showing that 36 percent came from single-parent homes and another 32 percent had step-parents.

There are many programs in St. Clair County that addresses this problem and provides support like Save Our Neighborhoods and Streets (S.O.N.S.), The Harbor, and The Resolution Center.

The Resolution Center, serving Macomb and St. Clair Counties, has now established a satellite office at the Lakeshore Legal Aid in Port Huron. The center is dedicated to enhancing peaceful resolution of all forms of disputes by providing and promoting the use of appropriate alternative dispute resolution and collaborative problem solving processes that emphasize cooperation, collaboration and communication.

In the past year, The Resolution Center embarked on a pilot program in conjunction with the Warren Consolidated School District. The initiative was to keep kids in school by mediating incidents where students broke the school code of conduct. In instances where traditionally the students would be subject to disciplinary writing, detention, suspension or expulsion, students that were willing to accept their part in the offense were allowed to volunteer for the Conferencing process to work out an agreement with the victim to heal the harm.

According to Frank Malik, RJC Coordinator, the program is called Restorative Justice Conferencing and it uses the process that originated among the Maori tribe of New Zeeland. An offender is brought back in to the main stream of society allowing community offenders to meet with all that have been affected by the offense, discuss the matter and decide how to respond accordingly. This concept is effective in reestablishing an individual’s worth to the community and allows for that person to become a productive part of the community once again.

The Resolution Center has established a St. Clair County Advisory group to possibly bring this concept locally. Members include Attorneys Anna Kovar and Colleen Brink, Capt. Jim Jones, Mediator Dorothy Mason, Renee Jones of Immanuel Lutheran, PHASD Superintendant Ron Woleen, and Judge Cynthia Platzer.