Anti Bullying Consultants Preventative Program is an early intervention program. The program is educationally based, fun, effective, and a critical thinking program which introduces individuals to all aspects of bullying. It will provide a safe haven and forum for all individuals, victims or perpetrators, to openly communicate how they have been affected by the effects of bullying. The Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program will be considered as a non-judgmental or neutral zone allowing all involved to feel safe and able to openly express their feelings.
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program is the answer to the increasing demand for preventative programs dealing with Bullying. Bullying has short and long term effects on an individual's mental and physical health. Our goal is to enhance awareness of the bullying epidemic by acquiring 100% of the Warren County, North Carolina Middle Schools staffs' participation, with expansion to all schools in the Warren County, North Carolina's school district.
The business proposal is designed to acquire financing in the amount of $17,852.95. Financing is required to begin working on providing training for staff, teaches, mentors, and administration. To provide Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs curriculum guides and workbooks school wide. Financing is also needed for promotional material, entertainment, food for events, along with incentives for staff and students.
Financing will allow Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program to successfully open and operate for one year. The successful operation of one year will provide Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program with enough revenue and a large scale customer base that will allow our program to be self sufficient in the second year.
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program Proposal
Rationale/ Program Description/Methodology
The Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program is based on early intervention. It is a safe haven for middle school adolescences experiencing the effects of bullying. It is an educational based, fun, effective and critical thinking program which introduces children to all aspects of bullying, giving them a safe non judgmental atmosphere in which they can learn to overcome and cope with obstacles related to being victimized by bullying. Bullying is an extremely serious social and health issue involving the harassment, intimidation, and acts of violence against individuals within school systems and communities. All subjects offered are designed for school systems and organizations focusing on empowering children; enhancing their hearts and minds to take a stronger stance against violence, beginning at an early stage by providing them with age appropriate assignments and activities that they can do at our establishment or at home giving them the opportunity to share their work with family. The Anti Bullying (ABC) Preventive Program is designed to help assist schools and communities all over speak out about the injustice surrounding bullying guiding them to becoming safer environments and more successful as a whole.
Needs Statement
Bullying is a pervasive and frequently unreported problem. The definition of bullying can vary with most experts agreeing with the fact that bullying can be physical, verbal, or psychological/ relational, involving and imbalance of power, the intent to cause harm, repetition, and is a very real problem happening every single day all around the world. Many adults feel as if being bullied is something in which children go through as a part of growing up and poses no significant harm. The Department of Health and Human Services website, stopbullying.gov doesn't agree with that logic, stating that; " bullying is not just a phase or something that we all have to go through, it is not "just messing around", and it is not something that kids eventually just grow out of. Bullying is a serious problem that causes long-lasting harm." (Department Of Health And Human Services, 2012) The issue of bullying also became nationally recognized and scrutinized through the media with the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1999 and Santana High School in Santee, California in 2001, which also builds on the fact that bullying isn't just a part of a child growing up and doesn't have lasting harmful effects. There was a child name Carl from Massachusetts who committed suicide at the tender age of 11 due to bullying in 2002. Since the incident, there have been reports of an average of 15 kids' ages 11 to 14 that have done the same in Massachusetts, with three of those children being the same age as Carl. ("Constantly Bullied, He Ends His Life at Age 11," by Milton J. Valencia. The Boston Globe, April 20, 2009) Bullying creates a poor academic environment, affecting the behavior and academic achievement of students who are victimized.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Department (NICHD) that reports behaviors in school aged children shows that 17 percent of the students had been bullied either sometime or weekly, with 19 percent being in fact the bullies of other students sometimes or weekly, and lastly 6 percent of the students being both bullies and victims of bullies. Researchers have estimated that there are 1.6 million children within grades 6th through 10th in the United States who are victimized by bullies at least once a week, with 1.7 million of those students bullying others just as frequently. (Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, 2001)
In a study done by Professor Dan Olweus in South Carolina where he studied 6,500 middle school children, he discovered that 23 percent of those middle school children were bullied on a regular basis previously during the three months, with 20 percent stating they had bullied other children regularly during the same period of time. (Olweus and Limber, 1999).
Professor Olweus other research, proposes that bullying can lead individuals to having or showing criminal behaviors in their later life. His research shows that 60 percent of the males who were themselves bullies within grades 6th through 9th were convicted of one or more crimes as adults, in comparison to 23 percent of males who weren't bullies. 35 to 40 percent of those prior bullies were convicted three or more times, by their 24th birthday, in comparison with 10 percent of the males who did not bully others. (Olweus and Limber, 1999).
Schools need to become more structured and educated surrounding the problem of bullying by implementing preventative programs which provide a educational based, fun, effective programming introducing children not only to bullying but helps them cope with the long lasting after effects of all parties involved. Studies have shown that through effective bullying preventative programs there have been reductions of 50 percent or more in students who report being bullied or have bullied other students, with the teachers and peer reports of the problem having similar results.
Target Population
There are approximately 3,120 total students in the Warren County, North Carolina school district and 226 teachers with a 14:9 student teacher ratio. According to data from the 2011 United States Census Bureau, the racial makeup of Warren County, North Carolina school district is 40.3% White, 52.5% African American, 3.4% Hispanic and Alaska Native persons, 0.3% Asian, 1.5% persons reporting two or more races, and 38.1% White persons not Hispanic. There were 7,999 households where 20.1% had children under the age of 18 years old residing in them. The median income for a household in Warren County, North Carolina school district was $34,495, with the median income for a family being $46,291. The median income for males was $26,928 versus the lesser value of $20,787 for females. The per capita income for the Warren County, North Carolina school district was $19,113. 27.1% of families and 16.1% of the population were below the poverty level line, including 23.7% of those individuals being under the age of 18 years old.
The most important aspect of the Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program will be the commitment and focus placed on Warren County, North Carolina middle school children. Middle School children at the transitional stage in their life where they can either be comfortable in their skin or allow others to dictate how they should or shouldn't perceive themselves, leaving them open to become either a victim of bullying or the perpetrator of bullying. Although middle school aged children are our primary target population, our program feels that it is important and necessary to reach each and every child with the inclusion of the entire Warren County, North Carolina school district. This expands our target population to the entire school district population of 3,120 students Pre Kindergarten through 12th grade. All students collectively will have the privilege to participate in the program, it could be either directly with students experiencing the reduction of bullying or indirectly where they are a part of the reduction of fear placed on witnesses of bullying. The program is a school wide program with the interventions strictly directed towards the victims of bullying or those who are the victimizers themselves (bullies). Our program strives to reach out to the entire community. It was once said, "It takes a village (community) to raise a child."
Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: Our goal is the enhancement of effectiveness of the Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program.
Objective 1: Acquire 100% of the schools staff to participate during the 2013 -2014 school year.
Objective 2: Provide and supply all Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program training books and manuals for all 125 participating teachers, and mentors.
Objective 3: Provide and supply all Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program training books and manuals for all 30 participating school administrators.
Objective 4: Provide appreciation incentives to participating teacher, mentors, administration and staff for their constant dedication and commitment to the program.
Objective 5: Provide appreciation incentives to participating students who become Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program ambassadors for their constant dedication and commitment to the program.
Goal 2: The Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program will strive to successfully acquire students to become aware and enthusiastic about the program.
Objective 1: Strive to successfully facilitate the Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs Grand opening ceremony.
Objective 2: Strive to successfully facilitate Warren County, North Carolina school district and community based events focusing on the issue of Bullying with guest speakers, educational information, fun and games.
Objective 3: Provide a safe haven for children experiencing issues of bullying allowing them to openly express themselves in a non-judgmental setting, with one on one mentoring.
Objective 4: Provide students with appreciation incentives when they contribute to successfully reducing bullying behaviors.
Objective 5: Provide students with appreciation incentives when they successfully overcome their fears and report incidents of bullying.
Interventions/Process
The Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program will actively achieve their goals and objectives with the involvement of three important elements; the school system, classroom setting and individualized interventions. Through the formation of our Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program Coordination Committee we will reach our target goal of changing the school environment by training school personnel to properly access and handle incidents of bullying. Personnel will be given our personalized Bully/Victim questionnaire for the basic assessment of bullying by students. There will be rules designed to have areas where bullying can occur unseen (bathroom, school yard, bus etc.) to be supervised on a consistent basis. There will also be rules which state the use of positive reinforcement or negative consequences regarding bullying. To successfully gain excitement towards the program and increase awareness of all new rules there will be events held at schools, and in the community. There will also be forums at school discussing the new rules and regulations along with signs posted in key areas for everyone to see. The incorporation of themes about bullying will applied to the curriculum with constant positive reinforcement for good deeds and negative consequences for non compliance of the rules.
Student will be provided with special age appropriate incentives such as bully buttons, stickers, erasers, pencils, etc. when they report instances of bullying or if they themselves start to show less behaviors of bullying. Parents are encouraged to participate in all aspects of the program, with meeting being immediately held with parents when incidents of bullying occur.
In regards to the individualized aspect of the program all school personnel with be actively involved with the program starting from the administration all the way up to the Superintendent's office. It is extremely essential that the culture of school be changed so that each and everyone will openly embrace the program and what it stands for. It is important that bully intervention happens as soon as the incidents or behaviors are observed. It is imperative that there is follow up mediation meeting with all involved to allow everyone to fully understand and process the incident. All information in regards to the incident must be reported to our Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs coordination committee for them to have the parents of all involved properly informed and given times and dates of meetings.
Outcome Measurement/ Evaluation
The evaluation process of the Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program will promptly begin the first year and continue. The implementation of the Bully/Victim questionnaire will be our number one tool in measuring the programs outcomes. The Bully/Victim questionnaire will be given to staff three times a year at the exact same time. It will measure the behaviors and attitudes attributed to bullying along with signs of depression, delinquent behaviors, and the satisfaction with the relationships between the school and students. With the utilization of each student's view of the outcomes, it will permit the administrators to recognize and note positive changes along with any new developing concerns. There are a large number of ways to evaluate the effectiveness of our program due to the vast indirect effects of behaviors associated with bullying. Some of those indicators are as follows: the increase or decrease rate of a student's absenteeism or truancy due to bullying within the school, the increase of decrease in the students test scores can be an indicator as to whether their schools learning environment has changed for the better, and the examination of a student's suspensions as a result of bullying. Some would consider this increase in suspensions as proof of the programs ineffectiveness, when it really indicates the rate of the program's effectiveness by suspending those who are not incompliance with the rules implemented. This success with be evident in the first year with the increase of suspensions for those students who are the perpetrators of bullying, showing a "NO TOLERANCE" level for bullies and rule violators. To successfully report our programs rate of success strict records will be kept in order to compare with how the school system functioned before the implementation of the Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program. Our program has to rely on the commitment and participation of the schools staff in reaching the programs target goals and objectives, in doing so there will be process evaluations regularly to examine if the proper delivery of the program is followed. The meetings will include Implementation checklists which will to be completed by the staff to measure if the programs curriculum is being followed as intended. There will be a focus group to gather information from the teachers on the areas which need improvement bi-yearly. It will be mandatory that teachers hand in index cards describing positive changes which have been noticed amongst the students, staff, teachers and the school system as a whole due to the implementation of Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program.
It is imperative that accurate records are kept identifying the changes within the school as part of the evaluation process. The Class Meetings Activity log which are to be filled out by teachers describing what topics from the curriculum are being taught, along with other issues they feel need addressing will be turned in to the administration for overview. A very important advantage of The Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Program is our cost effective power of evaluating our programs capabilities by the use of those records kept by the students and staff.
Personnel
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs Director
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs Coordinator
Mentors (10)
Teachers (41)
Administration (30)
Budget
Total
Yearly training for Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative
Programs staff, teachers, mentors and administration $2500.00
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs school
wide curriculum guide (83 @ $89.95) $7440.95
Anti Bullying Consultants (ABC) Preventative Programs student
workbooks (582 @ $2.00) $1164.00
Food for events $1500.00
Entertainment $4000.00
Promotional material, posters, and flyers $500.00
Staff incentives (desk accessories or key chains)
(83 @ $2.00) $166.00
Student incentives (bully buttons, stickers, erasers, pencils)
(582 @ $1.00) $582.00
Grand Total $17852.95
