Bullying Prevention and Intervention

The US Government's official anti-bullying website, stopbullying.gov, has a lot of good resources for schools that we could learn from at 7 Cups. I just read: Misdirections in Bullying Prevention and Intervention. (PDF, 3 pages) Here's a summary:

Zero Tolerance Policies

Many schools and school districts have zero tolerance or three strikes and youre out bullying policies. These policies suspend or expel children who bully others.

However:

Although suspension and expulsion may be necessary in a small number of cases, they should not be the standard bullying prevention or intervention policy.

Thought for 7 Cups:

What bullying interventions do we have at 7 Cups that do not involve suspension or expulsion?

Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation

Conflict resolution and peer mediation are common strategies for dealing with issues between students. Because of this, schools may use these methods to address bullying problems.

However:

Bullying is not a conflict; it is a form of victimization… There is no evidence that conflict resolution or peer mediation stops bullying.

Thought for 7 Cups:

Do we ever try to use use conflict resolution or peer mediation when what happened was really bullying? What's our strategy for dealing with victimization?

Group Treatment for Children Who Bully

Some schools use group therapy to address bullying behavior.

However:

Although these programs have the best intentions, students behavior may get even worse.

Thought for 7 Cups:

It's a good thing we don't use group therapy

Simple, Short-Term Solutions

Schools often adopt short-term bullying prevention and intervention approaches that dont address the entire issue.

However:

[T]hey are not likely to significantly reduce bullying problems. To reduce the prevalence of bullying, the schools climate and its exceptions for student behavior must change.

Thought for 7 Cups:

What changes are needed in the climate at 7 Cups and in our exceptions for unwanted behaviour, in order to significantly reduce bullying problems?

Charlie