PORT TOWNSEND — Bullying isn’t a big problem at Blue Heron Middle School now, and school officials want to keep it that way.
“Is bullying rampant at Blue Heron? No,” said Principal Tom Kent at a Port Townsend School Board meeting this week.
‘But, to quote Martin Luther King, if there is injustice somewhere, it affects everyone everywhere.”
An assembly on King’s birthday provided the springboard for the school’s “Unite” program, which is meant to teach students values that will prevent bullying.
The culmination will be March 19-20 during a series of school-wide assemblies discussing how to maintain a healthy school environment.
The campaign has its own button.
The word “Unite” is surrounded by the words “accept, appreciate, tolerate, respect, understand.”
Students are asked to take a pledge that explains how to apply each term.
“We are teaching that all students are entitled to live in an environment where they are treated with dignity and can embrace a lifestyle that does not include alcohol or drugs,” Kent said.
“Kids need to be able to come to school and feel safe,” he said.
Kent talked about his own experience as a bullying victim.
“I was bullied to the point where I dropped out of school,” Kent said.
“I was beaten up very badly, and one of the reasons that I became a teacher is to talk to kids in the way that I did not have.”
Choir teacher Bruce Cowan doesn’t see a lot of bullying firsthand but said such behavior usually occurs outside of teachers’ line of sight.
“Bullying has always been present, but we need to give kids the opportunity to understand that they have a responsibility to each other to prevent it,” Cowan said.
“The bullies may have something in their lives where they are being bullied, and we should do what we can to help them.”
Another East Jefferson County public school, Chimacum School, has conducted several assemblies to teach students how to deal with bullies since two 14-year-olds were arrested with a knife and a machete in October, said Principal Whitney Meissner.
She said the district stepped up anti-bullying programs after the Oct. 31 incident.
Investigations by Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies had revealed that the incident, in which no one was injured, happened after ongoing tension between some members of a group of Chimacum students who call themselves “Juggalos” — fans of a “horrorcore” rap group — and other students.
Students in the middle school and the high school are being surveyed about bullying, with the answers to be used to address the problem, Meissner said.
Teachers also are keeping watch on specific students who may be either victims or perpetrators.
“Any kid can make a mistake,” Meissner said.
“But if a name comes up more than once, we do an intervention and try to help them.”
If a bullying victim is identified, school staff will intervene, she said.
“We will support them and empower them with the knowledge that they can speak up and say, ‘That’s not right,’ when they are pushed against a wall,” she said.
Meissner believes these strategies are working.
“Kids know right and wrong. They just need to be reminded,” she said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
