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Officer Will Address School Bullying: BYRON: Grant to District Will Be Used to Crack Down on the 'Culture of Bullying' at Excelsior Middle School

Posted on: Monday, 15 May 2006, 09:02 CDT

By Paula King, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

May 15--After dealing with allegations of bullying and violence on its rural middle school campus earlier this year, the Byron Union School District has secured a grant for a school resource officer.

The $500,000 School Community Violence Reduction Grant will pay for a sworn deputy officer from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department for nine months out of each year. The Byron district was one of 30 school districts to receive the five-year grant statewide.

The community has been requesting a law enforcement presence on the district's three campuses for years, according to Byron Superintendent Tom Meyer.

County Sheriff Warren Rupf said that county budget reductions have wiped out funding for school resource officers in recent years.

"We can be extensions of the community. What you have here is a classic example of a partnership," Rupf said. "We are excited about this. We hope the community appreciates all the hard work that was put into this."

School board President Dennis Kutsuris said that having an officer presence will build a bridge between parents, teachers and students through law enforcement. Several parents came forward months ago to expose what they described as "a culture of bullying" on the Excelsior Middle School campus in Byron.

"It is going to be another strong tool, but the community is going to be the primary beneficiaries," Meyer said of the grant.

Since the bullying complaints, the district has launched several programs and hosted events to fight school violence including bullying forums that were well-attended, a bully box where students can report incidents in writing, a bully task force and student conflict-resolution training.

Another solution is the AnCommXpress service, a Web-based messaging service that allows students to retain anonymity when reporting issues on campus to staff members through the Internet. Since being implemented a month ago, more than 100 students have logged on to the service to send messages about incidents involving various forms of bullying.

Over the past few months, Excelsior students have been trained in a conflict-mediation program called Safe School Ambassadors that empowers students to combat violence among their peers. Some students have learned to intervene in certain situations to prevent cruelty and reduce tension on campus.

According to Excelsior Vice Principal Ben Scinto, students have said that the campus needs more supervision and a police presence in dealing with these issues. During a focus group, students said that verbal and physical abuse typically happens during lunch and passing periods and includes pushing, tripping, name-calling, food-throwing and cutting in line.

As one of the parents who exposed bullying issues at Excelsior, Jennifer Mixon said that everyone should be proud of these results. She described it as a team effort that started with a group of concerned parents whose children were the victims of bullying behavior and who fought for awareness of school violence.

"It is just going to be that visual presence," Mixon said.

The on-campus officer will also supplement the district's K-8 Positive Action Curriculum with parent and student sessions on violence reduction and drug and alcohol prevention. This curriculum includes a positive action advisory class where all students learn about positive and negative behavior, bullying, good choices and self-esteem.

"I don't want it to be a strictly disciplinary relationship," said Scinto of the officer position.

The district will supplement the officer's service with at least $20,000 annually from its operating budget. The sheriff's office will contribute costs associated with the patrol car, training and equipment.

"It is one piece of many," Meyer said. "It is not an answer to all the ills in Byron and Discovery Bay."

Paula King covers education in far East County. Reach her at 925-779-7189 or pking@cctimes.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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