When Your Child Experiences Bullying: Part 2 - Episode 15

This week on PACERTalks About Bullying, we are thrilled to be releasing part two on what to do if your child experiences bullying. Last week, in part one, we shared steps on how to support your child. Today, we are sharing tips for working with the school to help ensure your child is safe and supported. Stay tuned next week for a new episode!

Transcript

>> [Background Music] Hey there! Welcome back to PACER Talks About Bullying. I'm Bailey. We're glad you're here!

This week we are really excited to share part two of our video series all about what to do if your child experiences bullying. Now, the reason we broke this episode into two parts is because there's two equally-important steps to take if your child experiences bullying.

The first step, which we shared last week, is supporting your child and developing an action plan. If you haven't seen that video yet, go ahead and press pause, go back and watch last week's episode, which is Episode 14, and then come back to this video.

So this video is the second equally-important step which is all about working with the school. Now one important thing to note is that as we break down these steps, they're really more of a guideline, because the order of steps may look different for everyone, depending your situation. With that being said, let's go ahead and get into the episode. So the first step to take is really more of a prestep, but it's all about getting information ready on your own to share with the school so that you could have a positive outcome.

The first pre-step is documentation. So, documentation is really key when it comes to bullying, because it helps provide a written history of what your child has experienced. In the documentation, make sure to include everything that your child has shared with you, from when the bullying happened, where it happened, who was involved, and how it made them feel. The second step is finding out what your school's policy is on bullying and harassment. Every state does have a LAR [phonetic] policy when it comes to bullying prevention, so check to see what your school says they'll do to respond to bullying. This may be in the school's handbook or on your school district's website.

The second step is all about reporting and taking action steps. Once you have your information ready, reach out to your child's teacher, or another adult at school that they interact with frequently, like maybe the school counselor. One important thing to note is that when you do reach out to the teacher, they may redirect you to someone else at school that handles reports of bullying, like the vice principle or the dean of students. Share information about the bullying that's been happening, such as your documentation, or other things that your child has shared with you. It's really important to include how the bullying has impacted your child. So, maybe they don't want to go to school as much, they've been complaining of headaches and stomaches, or other new behaviors that have resulted from this bullying. Along with reporting the bullying, this is also a great time to talk through some ideas and strategies to help prevent the bullying from happening. For example, if you and your child develop an action plan, like we talked about in last week's episode, you can share that action plan with the school for their help in implementing. Even though the school is now involved, it's really important that your child remain the focus and that they feel comfortable with any action steps taken. The third step is recordkeeping.

So just as you've been documenting the bullying that your child's been experiencing, it's really important to document your conversations with the school. Be sure to include who you talked with, a summary of the conversation, the school's response, and the action steps taken, and any follow-up that's needed. If an action plan is developed, it's really important to also follow through with the school and your child, see how it's working, and make any adjustments if needed.

The fourth step is about what to do if it continues. If your child continues to be bullied and you feel that it's not being resolved at school, you may need to reach out to someone in the administration, like the school district. It may be helpful in some cases to connect with someone that can help facilitate next steps to ensure that your child is safe. If you do contact the school district, request an in-person meeting to talk about what's happened so far, and what you would like to see happen. All with the goal of keeping your child safe at school. Make sure to bring any documentation that you have to this meeting, including both the documentation of the bullying that your child has experienced, as well as documentation about the communication you've had with the school up to this point.

And the fifth step is all about being proactive. It's important to note that you don't have to wait until your child experiences bullying to meet with the school. If bullying is a potential concern for your child, meet with the school at the beginning of the year to talk through this possibility. You can meet with the school staff that will be working directly with your child, and share more information with them about your child so they know how to best support them. After you meet at the beginning of the year, be sure to follow up throughout the school year with any questions and concerns. What's so great about this step and being proactive is that you can really establish a collaborative relationship with the school, and build a partnership with your child's teacher and other staff that interact with your child. Kids spend a majority of their day at school, so by having teachers and other staff as your partner, they can really provide a unique insight to your child and the way that they're interacting with their peers.

[Background Music] And that's a wrap of part two of this video all about what to do if your child experiences bullying. We hope that you've gained some insight on not only how to support your child, but on how to work with the school.

This is our last episode of 2018, which is so crazy, and we will see you right back here next week in 2019. Remember, together we can help create a world without bullying. See you next year!

[ Music ]