Alliance Middle School Counselor leads Bullying Prevention Month

Alliance Middle School leads the way in bullying prevention practices at Alliance City School District.

Part of the reason the Middle School has seen such positive results with decreasing negative behaviors such as bullying around the school is due to the leadership of School Counselor Katina Parks.

Parks is a nationally certified trainer for the OLWEUS anti-bullying behavior program and she helps to train other districts in the area.

The OLWEUS program, in its fourth year of implementation at Alliance Middle School, gives action plans to students, teachers, staff and the community about what to do when bullying behavior is seen and how to stop negative behavior before it turns to bullying.

“With OLWEUS, students know someone is on their side and that the situation was handled,” Parks said, “I can see the difference in individual students who have struggled and the kids are changing.”

Students participate in regular classroom meetings, where they build positive relationships with each other and are challenged to think and discuss issues like bullying.

All teachers are given training on how to respond when they see negative behavior that could lead to bullying.

She has also helped to implement OLWEUS principles at Northside Elementary School. Fourth and fifth graders are given the opportunity to take a new elective class called LEAD which helps to teach character development and social skills. Northside students also participate in the spirit weeks during Bullying Prevention Month.

Bullying Prevention Month kicked off at the beginning of October and both schools are continuing the well-received upstander reward program. Students who are seen being “upstanders” or a person who recognizes something wrong and stands up for what is right, is rewarded with a “Stop Bullying” t-shirt in class.

Students watched videos about bullying, played trivia games to learn more about bullying behavior and participated in activities to get everyone involved.

Red Ribbon week also took place as part of Bully Prevention month and students signed a pledge to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

Bullying Prevention Month is another opportunity for all district schools to focus on the Alliance City Schools mission of creating an environment where all students can reach their full potential.