Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators

September 2009 from Michelle Krell, Principal, Hartley Elementary, Waseca, MN: We have been using Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in my school for four years. It fit very nicely with our school-wide behavior program. We have meshed the two together very effectively.   Among the activities we have in place are an anti-bullying pledge we teach the students and they recite  each Monday.  Every Friday we celebrate WCRB day.  WCRB (Work, Cooperate, Respect, and Belong) is our school-wide behavior program. Students wear their WCRB t-shirt, we sing our WCRB song (to the tune of YMCA), and we incorporate some type of circle lesson or book.   Our students have been doing bullying surveys for five years, once in the fall and then in the spring.  Since adopting the Olweus program and instituting a school-wide behavior program based on Love and Logic and Above and Below the Line behaviors our bullying incidents have decreases dramatically. My teachers do an anti-bullying curriculum right away at the beginning of the school year. We teach students a strategy to use if they are bullied "Talk, Walk, Squawk".  This has been extremely effective in helping students become assertive, but also knowing when to ask for help.    We also have a list of picture books at each grade level that focus on bullying that teachers read and discuss with students throughout the year.  We have the football team coming next week (Homecoming week) to read an anti-bullying book to each class.  What great role models for our students!  Last year we identified the bus as having the largest bullying problem.  We coordinated an effort to get the  Intermediate school and my school together in classrooms by bus and we invited the bus drivers.  We did some team building, talked about bus rules and bullying.  It was a wonderful connection for students and bus drivers.  We also matched the a younger student with an older student on the bus so they would feel they had someone to go to if they were having a problem on the bus.  Our bus bullying went down dramatically.  We also bring Climb Theater in each year to either do classroom sessions or all school assemblies on bullying and respectful behavior.  It has been exciting to see the changes in the last four to five years.  Students know what bullying is and don't want to be considered a bully.   If you have any principals wanting more information, please pass on my name as I would be happy to help them.      Olweus Overview on You Tube A video overview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Principal on You Tube A video interview with Ben Lewis, principal of Century Junior High in the Forest Lake School District, praising the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.  Words from the Founder Conversation on You Tube with Dr. Dan Olweus, creator of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Peaceful School Bus Video overview on You Tube of the Hazelden Peaceful School Bus Program.