Amelia Middle School in Ohio is taking action to put an end to bullying not through school staff intervention, but through a program that empowers students who witness bullying to do something about it. The school has also developed policies and rules against bullying and a system for reporting and recording incidents of bullying. It creates a heightened awareness of bullying and promotes shared responsibility to stop bullying when it is observed. Weekly classroom sessions are held to discuss issues associated with bullying, and bullying hot spots on campus have been identified. A kick-off rally for the student body was held during which members of school staff and students acted out scenes that demonstrated bullying.

Research findings show that bullying first begins in elementary schools, subsides during middle school, and reemerges in the ninth grade.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Amelia Middle School’s anti-bully program is based on a method promoted in the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program that was developed in Norway. The method has proven to be effective in many schools. Amelia is the first school in the Cincinnati area to implement the program. Bullying is so debilitating to children that I applaud whatever can be done to heighten student awareness of its negative effects and empower them to take positive action to prevent it.