Lenape Students Stand against Bullying

by Jonathan Weaver

Lenape Elementary School is turning students into superheroes this month.

As part of National Bullying Prevention Month, Health and Physical Education Teachers Jamie Pschirer and John Bartolovic were inspired to transform a common classroom theme – superheroes – into a way for first through sixth-grade students to take a stand against bullying.

“This all just sort-of came out of our heads,” Pschirer said. “We work well together. We touch on treating others the way you want to be treated, but this year, we really hit on the bullying.

“The reason we took a stand was (because) we know there are some things that go on, and we want our kids to take a stand against it,” Pschirer said. “I really don’t think it’s a huge problem (at Lenape Elementary), but there are times where you have to sit a kid down. I think we have a great staff here that puts an end to it.”

Teachers will also create superheroes to fill the lobby’s wall – which Pschirer said has turned into a “daily reminder of how to treat others.”

“It’s very important for us to show them that we take a stand on bullying as well,” Pschirer said. “As a staff, we’re not mean to each other so they shouldn’t be mean to each other.”

The school’s monthly newsletter also devoted opening paragraphs about bullying prevention.

“We just wanted to define what bullying was, because a lot of times, parents say their child is being bullied and they don’t really understand what it entails,” Pschirer said.

School Guidance Counselor Ashleigh Wasson has also visited classrooms to read a story, discuss what bullying is, what to do if students see bullying happening and review school rules.

“We would like to see (students) build friendships and not break each other down through bullying here at school,” Wasson said.

Next year, teachers throughout the district under the leadership of School Psychologist Dr. Angela McMasters hope to implement the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program to teach students about bullying.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.