IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Winter 2018 | Page 65

RECOGNIZING BULLYING
In his book, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We
Can Do, Dan Olweus, creator of the Olweus Bullying Prevention
Program, defines bullying as:
“A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and
over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other
persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.”
This definition includes three important components:
1. Bullying involves an imbalance of power or strength.
2. Bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time.
3. Bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted,
negative actions.
BULLYING IS NOT TEASING
Although, it might be hard to tell the difference between playful
teasing and bullying there is a distinct difference. Usually, teasing
involves friends who play together in a way that seems fun to all the
people involved. Often they tease each other equally, but it never
involves physical or emotional abuse.
WHY STUDENTS BULLY
Information about bullying suggests that there are three
interrelated reasons why students bully.
1. Students who bully have strong needs for power and (negative)
dominance.
2. Students who bully find satisfaction in causing injury and
suffering to other students.
3. Students who bully are often rewarded in some way for their
behavior with material or psychological rewards.
WHAT CAN I DO IF I THINK MY CHILD IS BEING BULLIED?
If you think your child is being bullied:
a. Share your concerns with your child’s teacher. They have been
trained in how to deal with bullying situations so the bullying
will stop. They will take your concerns seriously.
b. Talk with your child. Tell him/her that you are concerned and
ask some questions.
c. Try to find out more about your child’s school life in general.
If your child is being bullied, he or she may be afraid or
embarrassed to tell you. Here are some questions you could ask:
• Do you have any special friends at school this year? Who
are they?
• Who do you sit with at lunch?
• Are there any students at school you really don’t like?
Why don’t you like them?
S P E C I A L E D U C AT I O N N E W S
Brentwood Welcomes New Students: New Program
Increase Capacity to Educate Students with
Disabilities in their Neighborhood School
It’s a milestone like no other: That moment when parents watch
their children head off to kindergarten. In the realm of childhood
milestones, starting kindergarten is up there with taking first steps
and saying first words. Parents have been waiting and preparing
for this day for five years. The excitement of walking their child to
their neighborhood school and watching him/her walk through
the front doors to begin their 13 year educational journey -
greeted by teachers who may have taught their older children,
watching their child play on the playground with the other
kids from their neighborhood as well as new friends they make
throughout the day. The experience produces so much emotion
in moms and dads that they’re often not sure how to react. Should
they cry or celebrate? That has the been the experience of so
many parents in the Brentwood Borough School District over the
past years, but this year it was the first-time experience for a group
of parents of children with intellectual disabilities who started at
Elroy Elementary School.
Up until the current school year, the Brentwood School District
had sent students with significant developmental disabilities to
neighboring school districts to receive their needed educational
programs. The district did not have the internal resources to
support students who needed a Life Skills Support program. The
district had partnered with schools like the Mon Valley School
operated by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Keystone Oaks
or Bethel Park School Districts, or Wesley Spectrum to provide
educational programming to students with these types of needs.
This would often mean a longer bus ride to and from school for
each of these students as well as not knowing any other student
in their classroom because each student came from their own
neighborhood. Each district who sent students to these programs
incurred costs for tuition as well as transportation to these
programs.
Districts are always trying to build internal capacity to meet
the needs of all learners, so Brentwood School District decided
to investigate the possibility of developing a Life Skills Support
program within our neighborhood schools. A series of events
started to unfold in February 2018 that would contribute to
the district’s decision to open this classroom. February marks
the beginning of transition meetings for families of preschool
students with disabilities. These required transition meetings
allow the families the opportunity to share information about
their child between the preschool Early Intervention programs
and the school-age district staff. Sharing this information with
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BRENTWOOD-BALDWIN-WHITEHALL
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WINTER 2018
63
National Bullying Prevention Month
E L R O Y E L E M E N TA R Y