decorahnews.com special report: Bullying--a middle school perspective

(Continuing with our bullying series, decorahnews.com interviewed Decorah Middle School Principal Leona Hoth)

It is clear that the middle school age is a critical one in regard to students understanding bullying and how to deal with it.  Decorah Middle School Principal Leona Hoth says most of the bullying comes in the form of name calling, promoting rumors or exclusion activities (like not letting someone sit at their table). As students progress to the upper level grades (7th or 8th) there would be an increase in cyber bullying actions.  But the increasing access to technology is pushing Decorah Middle School to schedule their "Cybersmart" class in 6th grade now, instead of 7th grade.

There is some good news in regard to intervening at the middle school level, particularly if the school is paying attention to help students understand the bullying concept.  At Decorah Middle School students see prominently-displayed signs that define bullying and rules that specifically state proactive and reactive actions students should take when they witness bulling activity.  Hoth believes Decorah Middle School students are beginning to accept that "reporting" bullying activities is a way to build a safe environment for the whole school, as opposed to the negative stereotype associated with the word "tattling."

The Middle School also has a committee that works to address the issue, specifically using a well known and researched based Scandinavian program called "OLWEUS."  Included in the program are efforts to improve self advocacy and reporting.  One good thing about working with this age group is that the middle school concept still focuses on the development levels of students. In the middle school structure administrators and teachers are able to build anti-bulling programs into their curricular offerings.  Decorah Middle School does much of this programming in their advisory program during "Prime Time" that is held the last 15 minutes of every day.

Hoth believes that the vast majority of incidents come from a developmental stage where students are experimenting with boundaries, and often students in their "kidding around" activities really don't know what they are doing.  Gay slurs often occur in this manner.  When confronted about the impact of their actions the common response is remorse.  She says students clearly do not want to be labeled as bullies. Hoth  also says she has great cooperation with parents and with both groups of students--those experiencing bullying and those who are learning that their behaviors are defined as bullying.