Pubdate: Tue, 18 Nov 2003
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2003 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily 
home delivery circulation area.
Author: Theo Helm

SCHOOL TASK FORCE FAVORS EXISTING DISCIPLINE PLANS

It's Studying Problems Of Bullying, Drug Abuse

Members of a task force dealing with bullying and substance abuse said last 
night that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools should focus on using 
existing discipline plans rather than creating new ones.

"It's almost, here we go again with something else," said Steve Flora, the 
principal of Easton Elementary School and a member of the task force. "Do 
we have something in place that we could just tweak?"

The task force was formed to suggest discipline plans that could help 
schools improve problems that were identified on the districtwide survey on 
school climate.

The survey was completed by more than 8,000 students and identified 
bullying as a major problem. In addition, two-thirds of seniors said they 
had seen someone at school with drugs or alcohol, or under the influence of 
drugs or alcohol.

Doug Punger, the school system's attorney, said that many teachers may not 
be aware of the discipline resources that schools have now. Perhaps those 
should be used before new plans are designed, he said.

The task force also conducted focus groups to see how students interpreted 
the survey questions. The groups were made up of students, teachers and 
parents.

Marty Ward, an official in the system's accountability services, gave 
preliminary results from the nine focus groups that she conducted with Joe 
Park, a staff psychologist for the district.

Many of the students' comments were not surprising, Ward said.

"There's a recognition by everyone that the bully has problems of some 
sort," she said. And anyone can be bullied, but it's usually someone who 
appears different, students said.

Students said that bullying usually starts as verbal taunting before it 
escalates into physical violence, Ward said. They reported that teachers 
take physical confrontations seriously, but teachers' reactions to verbal 
confrontations vary, she said.

Students also reported that most bullying takes place outside of school, 
where bullies are less likely to be caught, Ward said. "A lot of bullying 
takes place on the street."

And she said that students did not think creating a drug-free school was 
realistic.

"The most common reaction was laughter among the students," she said.

The task force will meet next on Dec. 8. Officials say they hope that it 
will finish its work by February.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens