Compelling reasons to battle bullying and lessons from the field

Abstract

I suggest a dramatic reframing of bully prevention as a vehicle for critical positive phenomena including appreciation for diversity and pro-social citizenship and leadership development for students. It is these powerful positives, even more than the avoidance of potentially deadly consequences of inaction in the face of bullying, which should move schools and communities to embrace bully-prevention programs and practices. Beyond these compelling reasons to engage in bully prevention, I offer some lessons learned from the field in bringing bully-prevention programs to schools, including how to engage leadership, accomplish strategic, multi-year planning, and achieve program fidelity.

Keywords:

• bully prevention
• implementation
• citizenship
• social responsibility