Bullying a Problem for the Community as much as Victim

– Allison Goldsberry

Just about half of all children will experience bullying at some point during their education; a startling statistic revealed by Tufts University research.

Though bullying typically conjures up images of the big kid picking on the small one in the school yard, it actually takes on many different forms, such as name-calling, threats, and rumor-spreading that can be just as harmful as physical violence.

Girls are just as likely as boys to be bullies and often favor spreading rumors and online attacks to physical ones.

Cyber-bullying, such as harassing emails and instant messages, and stealing usernames and passwords to spread false information, has become an increasingly common form of bullying and is spreading even to kids who don’t fit the bill of the typical bully, such as involved students that earn good grades.

“This problem [bullying] is a very serious one. Bullying is not what it was when we were children…The migration of bullying to the online world has really changed everything,” said Dr. Elizabeth Englander, a psychology professor at Bridgewater State who founded the Massachusetts Aggression-Reduction Center.

Dr. Englander said bullying has almost become a prerequisite for popularity, especially among the middle school set.

Anti-bullying efforts are getting more attention across the state, and State Representative Paul Donato and School Committee member Ann Marie Cugno are leading the charge in Medford.

Donato tapped Dr. Englander and child development expert Dr. Richard Lerner of Tufts’ Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development for an anti-bullying forum held Wednesday night to raise awareness about the issue and pending legislation.

After Cugno raised concerns about bullying, Donato co-sponsored a bill with former State Senator Jarrett Barrios that seeks to create a system of dealing with bullying so there is uniformity across schools in handling the problem.

That way, Cugno says, each school has a process to tackle the issue head-on and bully victims aren’t further victimized by having to transfer to another school.

That is exactly what happened to Patrick Lereau, a student of Dr. Englander’s that left the state after enduring two years of bullying while in elementary school. Lereau’s family moved to New Hampshire to escape harassing phone calls and other torments.

Lereau, who said he outgrew the bullying through sports and lifting weights, now serves as a mentor at the Aggression-Reduction Center to help bully victims and to educate kids about bullying and its consequences.

Lereau noted that kids are quick to pounce on perceived differences, such as with looks or intelligence, and use that to pick on others.

Dr. Lerner said this often happens among middle school students since they’re in the process of finding a unique identity, and one way to handle the situation is to celebrate, not just tolerate, diversity.

Though the panelists agreed bullying is a significant problem at the middle school level, it can start much earlier, even in kindergarten, and it’s important to address it early on.

According to Columbus Elementary School Assistant Principal Rhonda Brenner, Medford’s Second Step, a violence prevention program, starts teaching kids about empathy-building, anger management, and problem solving in pre-school and continues through Grade 8.

Cugno said a similar program, Peace Games, was piloted at the high school last year with Tufts University, and, combined with the existing peer-mentoring program, is a step in the right direction to stem bullying in Medford.

The panelists agreed bullying is a community problem and eliminating it will require the combined effort of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and other community members.

The anti-bullying bill, now co-sponsored by State Senator Bob Antonioni, will be heard in the Education Committee on September 25, according to Donato.