Seaman Tackles Bullying issueSeaman Surveys Bullying
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By Angela Deines
By Angela Deines
SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Seaman Unified School District 345 officials want to know if students, parents and teachers feel there is a bullying problem in their schools.
USD 345 curriculum staff told board of education members Monday that surveys are being conducted online to determine to what extent bullying may be occurring within the district.
"We really felt like until we have some data, it's hard to address the problems," said Carolyn Orozco, director of curriculum for USD 345. "And the advent of technology has caused us to see bullying we haven't seen before."
Orozco said technology used outside school, particularly the Internet and text messages, have created challenges to addressing bullying, especially at the middle and high school levels.
Board member Frank Henderson is optimistic the anonymous nature of the surveys will yield more accurate information about the true nature of any bullying going on in the district.
"When it comes to bullying, students are often the last to admit they being bullied," he said. "Often there's fear of retaliation or being singled out (if they approach a teacher or authority figure)."
Henderson said parents also fear their child will be the victim of retaliation if they report bullying or harassment of their child.
Orozco said parents are being asked to complete the survey on the district's website, www.usd345.com, in order to collect and analyze the data more quickly and efficiently. She added that the surveys are being conducted by other methods with the students and teachers. Parents can obtain paper surveys by calling the district office at (785) 575-8600.
After the data is analyzed and presented to district staff members during the "Positive Behavior Summit" in July, each of USD 345's schools will craft their own antibullying plan based on whether the school is an elementary school, Seaman Middle School or Seaman High School.
In other business, board members unanimously authorized the republishing of the district's 2007-08 general fund and special education budgets. State law requires board members to republish the budget because of a higher-than-expected increase in student enrollment and an increase in state aid for special education teacher reimbursement.
The general fund is expected to increase $501,578 and the special education fund by $462,262 for a total of $963,840. The district 20- mill tax levy won't be affected by the funding increases.
A public hearing will be conducted during the board's June 9 meeting to officially adopt the amended budgets.
Angela Deines is a freelance writer in Topeka. She can be reachedat amdeines@aol.com.
(c) 2008 Topeka Capital Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Topeka Capital Journal
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds