School Sampler:
Maine

Location
Maine Project Against Bullying
Chuck Saufler, Director
Phone: 207-443-9145
E-mail: csaufler@westbath.u47.k12.me.us
Web site: http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/against/bullying.html

Description
The Maine Project Against Bullying (MPAB) was created in 1997 to investigate the prevalence of bullying at the elementary school level in Maine and to develop a bullying prevention curriculum. The project was commissioned by the Gender Equity Division of the Maine State Department of Education and funded by a Carl D. Perkins Grant.

The first step for the MPAB task force was to research and review available current curricula and other resources on bullying. This literature review provided concrete evidence to support early intervention and prevention efforts.

Next, a needs-assessment was necessary to obtain specific information for the State of Maine. As Chuck Saufler, director of the project points out, if there are no data about a particular region, people will refuse to believe there is a problem.

A survey was developed for third-graders to assess the nature and extent to which bullying occurs in school, children’s reaction to bullying, whether they have informed others and what outcome resulted, children’s perception of their own bullying behaviors, and gender differences regarding these issues. [To download a copy of the survey for your own use, go to http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/against/3survey.html]

The survey defined bullying behaviors in ways that third-graders easily understand: teased in a mean way; called hurtful names; left out of things on purpose; threatened; hit, kicked, or pushed.

The results of the survey taken by 4,496 children from 127 schools (28 percent of all third grade students in Maine) showed that something needed to be done. Here are some of the more compelling results: (for complete survey results see http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/against/finalreport.html)

• 22.6 percent of third-graders said they were threatened, 40.7 percent said they were teased in a mean way, 40 percent were called hurtful names, 34.3 percent were left out of things on purpose, and 37.5 percent were hit, kicked, or pushed every day, once or twice a week or month.

• Only 44.3% of the students said they felt “very happy and good” about being at their school.

• Although 91.3 percent reported taking action against bullies, 15.3 percent of children said it got worse after they reported it, and 21.7 percent said nothing happened.

• 13.8–17.7 percent reported that they engaged in bullying behaviors. This was twice as high as MPAB expected.

• 26.3 percent said they felt “very unsafe” or “kind of unsafe” walking to and from school.

Schools that don’t believe bullying is a problem should survey their students, says Saufler. “Clearly teachers do not see 90 percent of bullying that goes on. Kids aren’t doing it in front of teachers,” as the survey results indicate. They are bullying in the hallways, on the school routes, and in school buses. It is important that there be supervision in these areas.

During the third year of the project, the task force worked on developing a training curriculum based on Olweus’ schoolwide Bullying Prevention Program. MPAB brokered an agreement to implement a curriculum, train trainers in the curriculum and train school staff who applied for the Department of Health grant. Fourteen schools have begun implementation.

The bullying education program is a six-phase intensive schoolwide approach:

Phase One: Introduce the Program
Invite parents to attend the first awareness program.
Conduct a needs assessment and set goals based on the results.
Conduct a bullying survey to acquire baseline data.
Make the community aware of the program.
Secure funding.

Phase Two: Train Staff
Hold a one-day workshop to present survey results and staff development in bullying education and prevention.
Introduce staff training curricula to all staff; orient coordinating committee; provide reflective meetings for staff.

Phase Three: Develop Bullying Prevention Policies
Include documenting of bullying incidents, link to discipline system through gradual consequences, and include parental notification and meetings.

Phase Four: Introduce Bullying Prevention Curriculum
Select and purchase age-appropriate curricula.
Integrate in all classrooms.
Support bullying lessons with guidance program.

Phase Five: Reinforce Bullying Prevention
Develop a “telling climate” in the school so bullying is reported to adults.
Provide appropriate interventions for children engaged in bullying behavior and their targets.

Phase Six: Evaluate the Program
Re-administer the bullying survey to measure changes.
Revise/update the program to meet changing needs.

Throughout all phases of the program, working on improving school climate is key to the program’s success. Saufler emphasizes that a bullying prevention program must be integrated with other climate improvement work such as violence prevention.