New bullying, same results

October is National Bullying Awareness Month, but bullying is an issue in schools year-round.

Bullying has changed shape over the years — even adapting to an increased online presence for children and teens — but despite programming in schools and state legislation surrounding the issues, there is still concern about children’s safety and well-being.

“It’s important because every child that goes to school needs to feel safe, and they need to feel that they belong and that they are protected from anyone making them feel less than what they are,” Dr. Gwendolyn Kelley, education consultant and community advocate, told the Recorder. 

According to the Indiana Statute IC 20-33-8-.2, bullying is defined as “overt, unwanted, repeated acts or gestures, including verbal or written communications or images transmitted in any manner.” It also includes “physical acts,” aggression, or other behaviors committed by a student or group of students against another student “with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm the other targeted student and create for the targeted student an objectively hostile school environment…”

Kim Harvey, co-creator and CEO of Angels and Doves, an Indianapolis-based national anti-bullying program created in 2010, said in terms of the frequency of occurrences and the number of students reporting being bullied, there has not been a significant increase or decrease. 

“One of the trends that does remain as well is the fact that bullying is very strong — for lack of a better word — when children go back to school, kids are a bit more aggressive, and then right around breaks as well,” said Harvey.

However, Kelley said the pandemic has exasperated bullying in schools, as kids have underdeveloped social/relational skills from staying at home for more than two years. She said they go back to school not knowing how to communicate properly, bond or be kind to one another, which leads to more incidents of bullying.

Oftentimes, bullying takes place in areas where teachers or adults are not even present, such as at the bus stop, on the playground, in the hallways between class periods and even in the classroom when teachers are not looking, Kelley said. When students do stand up and tell their teachers about it, they are not taken seriously.

“I noticed that when schools and teachers take a stand, ‘We’re not going to tolerate bullying,’ then they work to eliminate it,” Kelley said. “If someone is being bullied, they need to believe the children when they say it happens and then actually do something.”

Identifying signs of bullying can be fairly easy, Harvey said. Parents and teachers should look for indicators such as increased anxiety or nerves in students, seeing who withdrawals from participation or is not socializing, and signs of crying, loneliness or depression, Harvey said. 

Harvey said if a teacher or parent believes a child is being bullied, it is not something that should be overlooked or brushed off. All instances of bullying should be addressed immediately because bullying can have major negative impacts on mental health and even lead to suicide.

“Adults need to understand that bullying does take place and is not the same as it was years ago. It’s intense. It’s intentional. It can be violent, degrading, humiliating, and it’s on purpose,” Harvey said. “So, adults need to be just as educated as the students are, and they need to know that they have to do something about it.”

Most states have legislation requiring schools to have anti-bullying policies. In Indiana, more than ten laws and regulations address bullying, including House Bill 1483, which requires school administration to notify parents of both the targeted student and the bully within five business days after the incident is first reported.

“In the early days, when the bill first came out, the rate of reporting wasn’t much higher than it was before the bill,” Kelley said. “So, it’s up to the Department of Education to enforce it.”

Harvey said many public schools have already implemented anti-bullying programming into their curriculums in addition to a zero-tolerance policy, but for those that have not, Angels and Doves provides a comprehensive program that educates students on the harms and consequences of bullying.

If a student feels safe enough to report a bullying incident, Harvey and Kelley both said it is imperative that teachers, school administration and parents talk to them about it one-on-one, away from the suspected bully and their peers. Asking specific questions and taking good notes about the incident is also key.

However, Kelley said when bullying does happen, the students who are the bullies do not need to be kicked out of school; instead, schools should use a restorative process so the damage done can be repaired.

The Peace Learning Center has a program where they work with kids in schools to address how students can learn to get along with one another through topics such as anti-racism, implicit bias, peer mediation and team building. The Peace Learning Center also trains teachers and school administration on culturally responsive practices, Kelley said.

“It’s a technique where if a child does something to another child, they go away and they talk about it with a trusted, caring adult,” Kelley said. “And they come back, and they apologize, or they try to repair the harm that was done. They try to restore the relationship.”

A full report of Indiana schools’ bullying data from the 2022-23 school year is available on the Department of Education’s website. For more information about anti-bullying policies and legislation in the state of Indiana or additional resources, visit in.gov/doe/students/school-safety-and-wellness/student-safetybullying-reporting/#Definition.

This story has been updated accurately reflect anti-bullying legislation passed in Indiana.

Contact staff writer Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848 or chloegm@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @chloe_mcgowanxx.