Illini Middle School
Anti-Bullying Initiative
Objective of IMS Anti-Bullying Initiative

Illini Middle School will actively work to create a healthy, positive, and
caring community where all students are given a voice and support.

Illini Middle School will educate its students and staff to promote a culture
of tolerance and acceptance with the goal of decreasing bullying
behavior.

Illini Middle School will enforce established rules and policies in a
consistent, firm, and fair manner.
Statistics on Bullying

Nearly 1 in 3 students (27.8%) report being bullied during the school year.
(National Center for Educational Statistics, 2013)

64% of children who were bullied did not report it. (Petrosina, Guckenburg,
DeVoe, and Hanson, 2010)

More than half of bullying situations (57%) stop when a peer intervenes on
behalf of the student being bullied. (Hawkins, Pepler, and Craig, 2001)

School-based bullying prevention programs decrease bullying by up to
25%. (McCallion and Feder, 2013)
What is Bullying?

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior
among school aged children that involves a
real or perceived power imbalance. The
behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be
repeated, over time. Both kids who
are bullied and who bully others may have
serious, lasting problems.
 www.stopbullying.gov
What is Bullying?

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and
include:
-An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical
strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or
harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different
situations, even if they involve the same people.
-Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential
to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors,
attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a
group on purpose.
What Bullying is not…

Physical behaviors such as:

accidently bumping into someone

Making others play things a certain way (natural
behavior—everyone likes things done their way)

Any behaviors (pushing, shoving, tripping, etc.) which
occurs ONCE (i.e., is not a repeated or pattern of
behavior)
What Bullying is not, cont.
Unrepeated Patterns of Verbal behaviors such as:
 A statement of dislike toward or about someone
 A single act of telling a joke about someone
 Arguments or heated disagreements between two or
more people/groups (conflict or disagreement does not
constitute bullying)
 Expressions of unpleasant thoughts or feelings
regarding others

What Bullying is not, cont.

Non-verbal behaviors such as:

Being excluded (i.e., not being invited to a party)

Not playing with someone

Choosing different people or groups to play with from
time to time
Types of Bullying

Verbal : Teasing, Name-calling, Inappropriate sexual comments,
Taunting, Threatening to cause harm. This can be spoken or
written.

Relational: Leaving someone out on purpose, Telling other children
not to be friends with someone, Spreading rumors about someone,
Embarrassing someone in public

Physical: Hitting/kicking/pinching, Spitting, Tripping/pushing, Taking
or breaking someone’s things, Making mean or rude hand gestures
Where and When Bullying Happens

Bullying can occur during or after school hours.

While most reported bullying happens in the school
building, a significant percentage also happens in
places like on the playground or the bus.

It can also happen travelling to or from school, in the
youth’s neighborhood, or on the Internet.
What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using
electronic technology. Electronic technology
includes devices and equipment such as cell
phones, computers, and tablets as well as
communication tools including social media
sites, text messages, chat, and websites.
Examples of Cyberbullying
 Cyberbullying
includes mean text
messages or emails, rumors sent by email
or posted on social networking sites,
pretending to be someone else to make
them look bad, and posting embarrassing
pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.
Why Cyberbullying is Different

Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and
reach a kid even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time
of the day or night.

Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously
and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult
and sometimes impossible to trace the source.

Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is
extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.
The Roles Kids Play

Kids who Assist: These children may not start the bullying or lead in the bullying
behavior, but serve as an "assistant" to children who are bullying. These children
may encourage the bullying behavior and occasionally join in.

Kids who Reinforce: These children are not directly involved in the bullying
behavior but they give the bullying an audience. They will often laugh or
provide support for the children who are engaging in bullying. This may
encourage the bullying to continue.

Outsiders: These children remain separate from the bullying situation. They
neither reinforce the bullying behavior nor defend the child being bullied.
Some may watch what is going on but do not provide feedback about the
situation to show they are on anyone’s side. Even so, providing an audience
may encourage the bullying behavior.

Kids who Defend: These children actively comfort the child being bullied and
may come to the child's defense when bullying occurs.
Effects of Bullying

Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience depression and anxiety,
increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating
patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. They are more
likely to have health complaints and show a decrease in academic
achievement. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school.

Kids who bully others are more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs in
adolescence and as adults, get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of
school, engage in early sexual activity, have criminal convictions and traffic
citations as adults, and be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or
children as adults

Kids who witness bullying are more likely to skip or miss school and shows
symptoms of heightened anxiety.
IMS Anti-Bullying Initiative Goals

To create a healthy, positive, and caring community where all students
are given a voice and support through:

A school-wide focus on Social-Emotional Learning Skills to build positive
relationships among students

A school-wide focus on Character Education

Parent/Family Involvement to increase communication with the school
and help kids understand bullying, its consequences, and how to cope if
you are a victim
Social-Emotional Learning

SEL is the process through which children and adults develop the ability to
understand and manage life skills such as:

Forming Relationships

Solving Everyday Problems

Adapting to the complex demands of growth and development

Why SEL? Because our emotions affect how and what we learn and
increases attendance, graduation rates, and capacity for learning.
(NewmanStecher International 2014)
Social-Emotional Learning Objectives

IMS will be instituting Social-Emotional Learning Objectives into every class.

Teachers will post this along with their academic objective for the day. For
example, the academic learning objective in their STEM class may be to
work as a group to create a functioning bridge model. The socialemotional learning objective may be to focus on working cooperatively
and settle disagreements about the design democratically.

How this helps? Teachers are reinforcing the behavior they expect during
the class, and students are less likely to feel that their opinion doesn’t
matter or argue with each other. In short, students are learning how to get
along and respect one another.
Character Education to Decrease Bullying

IMS has long focused on Character as an essential part of the educational
process. We have partnered with the Rotary Club to implement
“Character Counts”, a program aimed at increasing Character Education
and rewarding students who show good character traits.

The “Panther Pride Club” is a student-led organization at Illini that focuses
on bringing kids together of all backgrounds. Through service-learning
projects and fun activities, students learn cooperation and working with
their peers in positive ways. Students sign a contract when they join where
they agree that bullying behavior is not accepted.

“Project Unify” is a program at Illini that brings regular and special
education students on a daily basis to work together and form positive
relationships.
Parent/Guardian Involvement

As a school we recognize the importance of involving all stakeholders, especially when it
comes to a child’s emotional and physical well-being. IMS makes it a priority to contact
parents anytime a confirmed bullying issue is brought to our attention. We realize that, in
order for changes to occur, we have to work together to end undesired behaviors,
especially bullying.

Suggestions for Parents:

Monitor your child's electronic and social media use. Do not allow your child to have a computer
or cell phone in their room during sleeping hours.

Report any signs that your child is being bullied or shows bullying behavior. If you would like to do
it anonymously, please refer to the SafeSchoolHelpline on our webpage.

Don’t tell your child to “just ignore it.” Help them to understand and cope with whatever issues they
are facing.
School Policy

As stated in our student handbook, “Bullying will not be tolerated at District #100 facilities. Students
who are the targets of bullying should immediately report this conduct to the Principal or any adult,
if they feel more comfortable. All complaints will be fully investigated, with confidentiality being of
utmost importance. Consequences for bullying range from warnings to suspension or
recommendation for expulsion.” Also stated is “Due to privacy laws, parents/guardians will not be
given information by District personnel on the discipline action taken against other students
involved in a given situation.”

When a report of bullying is received, either in person or anonymously through the
SafeSchoolHelpline, school administrators interview all students involved and document the
pertinent information.

Parents/Guardians are contacted if the report of bullying is verified. Students involved are
counseled by the administrators and may be referred to our social worker for further support.

Consequences and Disciplinary Action are taken with the goal of ending the behavior and
making positive changes.
Summary

It is our belief that every student in our building should come to school
everyday feeling welcome, safe, and ready to learn. If something is
interfering with this process, we will take the appropriate steps to intervene.

Illini Middle School is focused on deterring bullying and helping students to
understand the effects of these behaviors. We have made it our goal to
offer a caring support network for students where they feel comfortable
talking to adults.

If you have any questions regarding this presentation or our policies,
please contact Mr. Diamond at IMS (498-5527).