All Howard County public school employees who come into contact with children on a daily basis must be trained in recognizing and dealing with bullying ? including bus drivers and their assistants.
“We?ll be training over 700 bus drivers and 75 bus assistants,” said Linda Wise, assistant superintendent for school administration and professional and organizational development.
Members of the school system?s Anti-Bullying Task Force made the announcement as part of nine recommendations in a 20-page report presented to the School Board during its regular meeting Tuesday in Ellicott City.
Some bus drivers have been trained on dealing with student conflicts for “years and years,” said Glenn Johnson, director of transportation for the school system.
However, he said, bullying is not a major problem on the county buses, but incidents do occur occasionally. If students act inappropriately on buses, Johnson said they are given verbal warnings or written up in conduct reports given to the school vice principals.
The task force has met since last June, and its report includes making policy changes and evaluating the effectiveness of school bully-proofing programs.
Wise said another goal involves establishing a “student-led” program to teach students how to deal with the bullying.
“We want to encourage students to step up to the plate,” she said.
The school system has school-based programs such as “Empowering the Bystander,” which helps a person who sees another person being bullied understand the importance of telling an adult or comforting a person who has been bullied.
“We are really focused on early intervention,” said Pam Blackwell, director of student services.
She said state and local data released earlier this year show that most bullying takes place at the middle school level.
The school system has reported 72 incidents from September 2005 to January 2006, as part of reporting requirements under the Safe Schools Report Act.
