Attempting to alleviate bullying, White Pine Middle School has identified the worst perpetrators through a student survey and given those five or six students one month to clean up their behavior.
Principal Aaron Hansen told the school board on Oct. 7 that the surveys are one of several steps the school is taking to address bullying which some parents have said is a problem at the school.
Students were recently asked to fill out the survey which included asking which areas of the school are prone to problems which has led to better supervision in some areas.
The students were also asked to identify bullies. Hansen said the same five or six children were identified by numerous students. Hansen said he gave those students one month to get off the bully list or they will face consequences.
He told the school board that half of those students told him they are not surprised that they are on the bully list.
Another survey will be taken after one month has elapsed. Hansen said if any of the students who were on the first bully list are still identified as bullies, the school will deal with them.
WPMS has also adopted the Second Step Program which deals with anger management and strategies in dealing with other children and the Defenders Program which teaches students who are bystanders who witness bullying incidents to stand up for other children.
Hansen stressed an improving school culture, including the Cougar Traits program as deterrents to negative behaviors. Cougar Traits shows students models for how they should conduct themselves.
The school also has counseling services with Steffani Thompson, a former White Pine High School teacher who is currently in her first year as a counselor at WPMS.
“If we don't address social needs they're not going to succeed academically,” Hansen said.
The principal cited economic conditions some students are living in as a possible cause for some behavior problems. Hansen said 44 percent of the total enrollment of the middle school qualify for reduced price lunches.
Hansen told the Ely Times in July that the middle school has had a bullying policy in place that includes calling parents and issuing disciplinary procedures that includes suspensions if a child hits another student.
The school district has also reported that several students who have returned to WPMS this fall after attending school in Lund last year are doing well.
The students returned to WPMS after school trustees canceled two bus routes as a cost-saving measure before the start of the current school year. One of the busses was the Ely to Lund route making it more difficult for Ely children to attend Lund's K-12 school. Bullying at White Pine Middle School and David E. Norman Elementary School was cited by several parents during a school board meeting in July as a reason for the choice to attend the Lund school.
Of the 104 elementary and secondary students who attended school in Lund at the end of the last school year, 22 were bussed from Ely.
The cost of transportation for 22 students was about $1,500 per student for the school year. Several parents said the bullying stopped once their children transferred to Lund and that their children felt safe at school.
DEN and McGill Elementary School are no longer in a need to improve status with the state of Nevada that led to school choice that included the option of attending the Lund school. That status followed the federal No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and the Nevada Education Reform Act in 2003.
The National Institutes of Health reported in 2000 that bullying affects more than five million students in grades 6 through 11 in the United States. One out of seven students is victimized.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines bullying as harassment and abuse. The U.S. DHHS website states, “Parents and school personnel should no longer consider bullying “just a part of growing up.” It is harmful to both the perpetrators and the victims and is responsible for behavioral and emotional difficulties, long-term negative outcomes, and violence.”
