Published: May 13, 2008 02:21 pm         

Former bully says he has more friends

Ryan Moore is tall for his age and his broad shoulders suggest he would make a great lineman on a football team. As a seventh grader at Rowan County Middle School, Moore is making decent grades and stays out of trouble, but last year he wasn’t so nice.

“I would go around acting like a big shot,” he said. “I tried to make everyone scared of me.” Moore, like many children his age, believed being in trouble was “cool” and that through fear, he would gain the respect he craved. Moore was a bully, but it’s not something he is proud of anymore.

RCMS implemented an anti-bully program in the fall called the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a comprehensive, school-wide program designed for use in elementary, middle or junior high schools. Its goals are to reduce and prevent bullying problems among school children and to improve peer relations at school.

The program has been found to reduce bullying among children, improve the social climate of classrooms, and reduce related antisocial behaviors, such as vandalism and truancy. The Olweus Program has been implemented in more than one dozen countries around the world.

Here in Rowan County, Moore and his pint-sized counterparts are seeing the benefits of the program as the school year winds down. “I was so busy trying to fight everyone I didn’t worry about my work.” Moore said. “Now I get a lot of help from my friends that I didn’t have when I was a jerk. My Mom’s real happy that I don’t get in trouble anymore.”

It was clear that remnant of bullying was still present in the classrooms. Although reformed bullies were willing to talk about their experience with The Morehead News, the victims of the abuse that was once considered “kids being kids” were afraid their stories would bring down repercussions.

“We’ve seen a huge decrease in disciplinary problems this year,” Vice Principal Darryl Williamson said. “When the kids do encounter bullying, whether they are bullied themselves, or they see someone else getting bullied, they say ‘we don’t do that here.’”

Each classroom at RCMS has a poster that explains four anti-bullying rules: to not bully others, to help students who are bullied, to include students who are left out, and to report bulling to adults at school and at home. “I think our school climate as really improved,” Williamson said. “The kids are happy and they want to come to school.”

The faculty and staff aren’t the only ones noticing a big difference; at RCMS the students see it too. Matthew Thomas, a sixth grader, feels safer in the halls now that he knows bullies will get in trouble for their actions. “It’s very clear that bullying won’t be tolerated here,” Thomas said. “These days I think it is more verbal than physical. Children like to harass, and bullies try to make people feel bad.”

But even name-calling and snide comments fall under the bullying umbrella. Bullying, as defined by the Olweus program, occurs when someone repeatedly and on purpose says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending him or herself. Bullying can take many forms, such as hitting, verbal harassment, spreading false rumors, not letting someone be a part of the group, or sending nasty messages on a cell phone or over the Internet.

Kelsey Stevens, a seventh grader, said the students who saw bulling last year feel they can report it now, and even the bullies seem happier. “I think the bullies are trying to change their attitude,” Stevens said. “I think they knew it was wrong before, but they didn’t realize they were hurting anyone.”

The new and improved atmosphere will be easy for everyone to see once standardized testing scores are released. “Personally I believe that testing is 20% ability and 80% attitude,” Williamson said. “The kids have all been doing their best during testing because I think they are happy to be here.”