Thursday, July 5, 2012
In the first year of its district-wide anti-bullying effort, preliminary surveys indicate a reduction in incidents.
When Dearborn Public Schools' joint community-schools anti-bullying campaign was launched last September, no one was really sure how widespread bullying was in the district's 32 schools. But now, with the close of the program's first year, officials have a much clearer idea. From September 2011 to June 2012, 919 incidents of bullying were logged by staff members. Four-hundred thirty-two incidents were logged at the elementary level, 395 were noted at the middle school level, and 92 were tracked at the high schools. Though it’s difficult to measure the effectiveness of the anti-bullying campaign because the district did not track incidents prior to 2011, officials believe the program is making a dent in the level of bad behavior at the …
Saturday, May 26, 2012
A group of exemplary students at Stout Middle School sent a mid-assembly message against bullying to their school.
An ordinary fire drill turned anything but for Dearborn's Stout Middle School on Tuesday, when a group of students–led by school liaison Fatima Tekko–hosted a flash mob in the middle of an assembly. The students involved sent a message against bullying to their classmates by performing a surprise song-and-dance routine in the school auditorium. Students involved included Slade Segerson, Bailey Dudek, Jenna Serazio, Alex Ayoola, DaiJanee Cooper, Kyla Hartwell, Jonte Dorsey, Trevor Dorsey, Ishraaq Atkins, Makaylah Owens, Gabrielle Koskyn, Delaney Melnik, Marissa Franz, Jessa Navarre and Ali Sareini.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Two students–one form Edsel Ford High and the other from Geer Park Elementary–capture the toll of bullying with art during poster contest.
Picture this: A tearful teen ponders the physical and emotional pain of having arrows in her back, or a hero asking his classmates to stand up to those that would hurt others. These two images are about to become very familiar in Dearborn Public Schools, local businesses, as well as at the state capital, as the designs named the winners of Dearborn's anti-bullying poster contest. The artists–Kaidhum Ganem from Geer Park Elementary and Hamzeh Abdorabe from Edsel Ford High School–were recognized at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting. The boys received several certificates of appreciation from Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak, and state Rep. George Darany, who will take the framed posters to …
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The series of meetings will cover the district's bullying policy, as well as individual schools' efforts.
In an effort to address parent and community concerns about bullying, Dearborn Public Schools and the Dearborn PTA Council have announced a series of "Response to Bullying" meetings scheduled for late Match and throughout April. According to DPS, the meetings are part of the parental and community involvement component contained in the district’s overall Response to Bullying program started in the fall of 2011. PTA Council members and district staff will provide information on a variety of anti-bullying activities taking place in the Dearborn schools and how parents can be part of the effort. Specific information will include an explanation of what is and what is not bullying, an overview of cyber bullying, and a review of Dearborn’s anti…
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
A meeting about bullying at Fordson ended abruptly after furious parents accused school administrators of not reacting swiftly enough to derogatory letters sent to girls.
A town hall meeting about bullying at Fordson High School went off the rails Tuesday afternoon when parents erupted in anger at administrators. Some parents felt the district did not act swiftly enough to identify and punish four male students who mailed so-called “skank lists” to the homes of several female students earlier this month. The typewritten letters, sent earlier this month, included allegations of sexual practices and other personal information about several seniors at Fordson. Copycat letters then spread to underclassmen, as well as at Dearborn and Crestwood high schools. Eventually, four students identified as responsible were suspended. Tuesday's meeting began with Fordson Principal Youssef Mosallam explaining to parents, …
Thursday, February 23, 2012
An American Association of University Women member and Southfield resident believes the "skank lists" written by Dearborn high school students qualify as sexual harassment.
The Dearborn Patch recently reported that four male Dearborn Public School students were suspended for writing and sending "skank lists" that identified the daughters of Dearborn families.This disturbing and persistent negative behavior in schools across the country targets girls most often, but boys can also be the focus. However, the incident should more appropriately be called sexual harassment. The more comfortable term of "bullying," while it can have negative psychological effects that interfere with education and work, it has some distinguishing differences from sexual harassment. According to the American Association of University Women’s recent research "Crossing the Line," bullying is usually defined as repeated unwanted behavior…
Friday, February 17, 2012
A series of "skank lists" sent out by students at local high schools have parents, students and administrators reeling.
This month, dozens of Dearborn families got an unwanted letter in their mailboxes: a so-called "skank list" with their daughters' names on it. The lists named various girls who attend Fordson and Dearborn high schools and included disparaging and salacious remarks about the teens. Now, four male Dearborn Public Schools students have been suspended over the multiple bullying incidents, district spokesperson David Mustonen confirmed Thursday. And several other lists are still being investigated. Letters Begin at Fordson Administrators say that the situation started with Fordson students in early February, when a anonymous, typed letter showed up in the mailboxes of multiple students’ homes. The letter mentioned girls by their full names, …
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
With the Michigan House approving its own anti-bullying bill, Dearborn Schools will have some back up in its own efforts to encourage good behavior–and tolerance.
The news that the Michigan House approved anti-bullying legislation without controversial religious exception language contained in a recently-approved State Senate bill was met with enthusiasm from Dearborn Public Schools officials and community leaders. But those same officials indicated that while they’re happy a bill appears headed for law in Michigan, homegrown efforts exceed what the bill requires in terms of what constitutes bullying behavior among young people and what efforts will be undertaken to promote understanding in one of Michigan’s most culturally diverse school districts. Brian Whiston, the superintendent of Dearborn Schools, said the new bill, if it becomes law, will complement a comprehensive and aggressive district …
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
More than 600 students at the Dearborn school participated in the third annual stand against bullying Wednesday morning.
The front lawn of Bryant Middle School was a sea of pink Wednesday morning when more than 600 of the school's students and staff took part in Pink Shirt Day. Started in Nova Scotia, Bryant Principal Shannon Peterson heard of the idea several years ago and suggested to school counselors Mrs. Mark and Mr. Renko that they bring it to Bryant. Now in its third year at the school, support has grown for the public showing that it's OK to be different–and that no kid deserves to be bullied for who they are, or what they wear. "We have a lot more students wearing pink today (than previous years)," Assistant Principal Kelly Dear commented to students. "We need to be aware of and we need to stop some of the bullying situations in our lives," he …
Monday, October 3, 2011
The school's program is part of a district-wide initiative to tackle bullying and bad behavior among Dearborn Public Schools students.
Dearborn's Stout Middle School unveiled a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program Monday aimed at discouraging bad behavior and rewarding students for acting in appropriate and respectful ways. "Have you ever been in a classroom and had a student goofing around and a teacher is spending time dealing with that?" social studies teacher Frank Serazio asked students at a Monday morning assembly. "PBIS will help deal with that." PBIS at Stout puts a Focus Card in the hands of every student. When a student is caught for an infraction–including such behaviors as talking in class or breaking the dress code–they get a signature on the card. Five signatures gets them an afternoon in detention. Ten signatures warrants a trip to the …
Lee Jacobsen
4:49 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Michelle, The best defense , to use a worn out cliche, is a good offense. Bullies pick on the weak. The weak either need to avoid environments where they need to defend themselves, or learn some basic common sense defense moves that, once used, will give bullies pause before picking on them again. Any electronic warning device will summon help far to late to be of any good in a bully … more ›