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Greetings Virginia School Counselors,
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Bullying is a pervasive issue that effects many students, teachers, and parents. Bullying can have devastating effects, such as school avoidance, loss of self-esteem, and increased anxiety and depression.
According to the 2022 Virginia School Climate Survey, bullying was reported as a problem in schools by 36.4 percent of students. The survey also revealed that only 55 percent of students felt that adults take action to address bullying. As school counselors, we play a critical role in preventing and responding to bullying in our schools. Listed below are a few potential action steps you can take to prevent bullying and empower your school staff to respond appropriately when bullying occurs.
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Find your school’s recent school climate survey results (Elementary schools will not have students represented in their reports but teacher and staff responses are). Share these results with school staff, leadership teams, students, and parents. Facilitate conversations to learn more about the contributing factors represented by each data point and identify actions steps to promote a positive change.
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Conduct a survey of students, staff, and parents to find out more about bullying at your school. Design your questions to gather the following information:
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Do students/parents/staff know what bullying is and how to report it?
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Where is bullying typically occurring?
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What type of bullying is most prevalent?
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Do students/adults know how to help when they see bullying or bullying is reported to them?
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Research shows that students with greater social and emotional competency are less likely to be aggressors, targets of bullying, or passive bystanders. This month is a great opportunity to take action to promote positive school environments to help keep kids safe from bullying. Consider some of the strategies and ideas shared in the following free webinars:
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Meet with a diverse group of students to discuss bullying at the school. Here are a few questions to consider:
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- Do students tell adults when bullying happens? Why or why not?
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What is the best way for adults to help kids who are experiencing bullying? (What is the worst way?) Have students help you to create a guide for adults that is similar to these:
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If Your Child Reports Bullying (for parents)
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If a Student Reports Bullying (for teachers)
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While school counselors can be leaders in bullying prevention efforts, it is important to remember that it is a shared commitment between school staff and parents.
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
We want to hear from you! Share your response to this month’s question and view ideas from others via this Fall's Counselor Connection. You can even add lessons, handouts, or other resources to the discussion board. Thank the two counselors who contributed last month with some fantastic strategies!
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DIRECT COUNSELING TOOL OF THE MONTH |
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Due to recent changes to § 22.1-291.1:1. (Legislative Update) Virginia school counselors are engaging in more direct counseling services than ever before. To assist school counselors in this meaningful and important work, each month we will feature a tool that can be used with students, as well as with school staff, to promote wellbeing, connection, and emotional literacy skills. Our tool for October is the Conversation Tree.
Conversation Tree Directions
Conversation Tree Poster
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNTIES |
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The Emotion Motion Podcast
The Emotion Motion Podcast takes listeners on a journey through storytelling designed to engage children, their families, and their teachers in movement and creative expression. Episodes include opportunities to put your emotions in motion through play and movement while practicing skills like empathy, self-awareness, regulating emotions, mindfulness, and more!
Stopping the Domino Effect: Supporting Students After a Suicide Risk Assessment or Threat Assessment Webinar
November 1, 2023, 3-4 p.m.
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When schools conduct a threat or suicide risk assessment, teams convene to discuss the level of threat and determine what immediate actions need to occur to ensure everyone’s safety. What happens after the assessment is complete? How can we use the results of the assessment to design a support plan for the student(s) involved to prevent future threats of violence? To prevent future incidents and address the root cause of the threat, schools cannot respond with disciplinary action alone. |
Stopping the Domino Effect Webinar Registration Form
A recording of this webinar will be emailed to all those that register on November 2nd. Certificates of attendance will also be emailed to those that attend the live webinar on November 1.
Better Together Webinar Series: Strengthening the Principal-Counselor Relationship
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As colleagues, allies, and partners in student success and wellbeing, administrators and school counselors work together best when both understand the role of the school counselor, as well as the unique needs of the school. |
School counselors and administrators work best together when they align their initiatives under shared goals, communicate regularly, and collaborate when issues arise. When supported, school counselors can be core curriculum implementation partners; data-driven interventionists; school-wide leaders; and systemic change agents.
While this series has come to an end, we encourage school counselors, administrators, and division leaders that missed it to view the recordings below.
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VDOE UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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Revision Underway to the VDOE's Model Policy to Address Bullying in Virginia’s Public Schools
Due to the before mentioned change to § 22.1-279.6. we are beginning the process of updating and revising the VDOE’s Model Policy to Address Bullying in Virginia’s Public Schools to reflect the new requirements for parental notification. However, we recognize that there are other areas where the guidelines could be improved and updated since being published in 2013. As we begin drafting these changes and researching best practices in the bullying prevention, we wanted to include feedback from school staff in the revision process. Please consider reviewing the current model policy and then completing the Model Policy to Address Bullying Feedback Form to share your ideas, strategies, questions, and/or favorite resources for responding to and preventing bullying in our schools.
We also want to hear from students! If you know a student that has experienced bullying, or are working with a group of student leaders, or have an upcoming classroom lesson on bullying prevention please consider collecting student’s thoughts and ideas through the Student Voice: Bullying Prevention Feedback Form. Students will not need to be familiar with the current policy to provide feedback. The form includes directions for explaining the purpose of the survey to students and possible collection strategies.
(Parent feedback will be gathered through our partnerships with parent organizations such as the Virginia Parent Teacher Association).
This playbook is designed to support school divisions as they work to implement ALL In High-Intensity tutoring into their existing structures to support learning loss.
Virginia Youth Survey to Monitor Health Risk Behaviors
Audience: Superintendents, School Principals Contact: Joseph Wharff, Director of Specialized Student Services
For the awareness of superintendents and school principals during fall 2023, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) in collaboration with the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) will administer the biennial Virginia Youth Survey to monitor health risk behaviors of middle and high school students. The random survey sample, determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will include approximately 100 middle and high schools from five health planning regions across the Commonwealth.
Each survey is designed to be completed in 45 minutes or less. All surveys will be anonymous, and all participating schools and divisions will not be identified in the subsequent reports. Classroom teachers or other school personnel may administer the surveys, or a survey administrator will be provided. The staff from VDH and VFHY will contact the school division’s superintendent if a school is selected as part of the statewide random sample.
Please note that Code of Virginia § 22.1-79.3.C. requires school boards to notify parents of the survey not less than 30 days prior to its administration and provide pertinent information on its contents and a provision for parents to exempt their child from participating.
The announcements above were selected from the Virginia Education Update from Dr. Coons, Superintendent of Public Instruction, you can view these updates in their entirety at the Virginia Education Update Newsletter Archives.
STAY CONNECTED
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