Cease and Desist
An article in February’s Principal Leadership magazine reminded me of an effective tool we used at my middle school in Oregon. The article, “Tattling Ends but Bullying Continues” discusses the issue of bullying and harassment at the secondary level and lists the authors’ top ten prevention strategies. I would like to add number eleven to the list – a “cease and desist” order. (membership required to access article)
Originally implemented to help us deal with harassment issues that continued after initial interventions, this simple form was surprisingly effective at stopping inappropriate behavior. In short, harassment behaviors were clearly defined and the harasser was required to sign a document acknowledging that if harassment continued, then he or she would face further, more serious consequences. A copy was then mailed home to the student’s family. Students took it very seriously -- I think many of them thought it was an actually legal document! My favorite favorite memories of it was when students would come back to the office a few weeks later and beg for the form to be torn up so they could be friends and talk to each other again (oh, the ups and downs of being a young adolescent!). For a copy of the form we used, click here – and feel free to adapt it to your own school setting.
In “A Voice from the Middle”, a national poll of middle level students done last year by NASSP and PDK, students said their number one hope for high school was a safe and secure environment. If as middle level leaders we want this hope to be a reality, we must not only continue to teach our students how to behave responsibly and appropriately, we must recognize and admit that harassment and bullying does happen and respond to those incidents as they occur. NASSP has several resources available to help schools with this issue. Bill Bond, NASSP’s Specialist for School Safety, presents at conferences and works with schools and districts around the country on the issues of school safety, bullying (including cyber-bullying), and harassment. NASSP members may also access numerous articles in the Principal Leadership archives that share how others are responding to the issue - just type in the search phrase bullying.
If you have an idea to share on how your school is responding to issues of bullying and harassment, let us know!
