Taking the Bystanders out of Bullying
Our student character committee is made up of students in grades 6,7, and 8 who want to contribute to a positive environment at our middle school. Their primary responsibility is to act as Bully Prevention Agents (BPAs) who are trained to step into situations among peers that are not positive. Members are trained according to Michele Borba's Bully Buster steps. We trained 35 in 2012 and 45 students in 2011 to act as Bully Prevention Agents (BPAs) at MMS. Due to positive changes in our discipline reports, we plan to continue this program indefinitely. Through grade level meetings, all students were made aware of the purpose and goals of our BPAs, and alerting them that BPAs would be wearing yellow Wildcat lanyards with an ID badge to make them visible. All students are aware that our BPAs are trained and required to report any negative behavior to an adult in the building. One tool we used at the start of this program was to have all students record the location where bullying was occuring in the building, as well as any students who were witnesses (an idea suggested by Michele Borba). BPAs began duty on January 31, 2011 and have continued since.