School Bullying Council

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM)- The Grand Rapids Mayor’s Youth Council hosted this year’s Kidspeak conference at Grand Rapids City Hall on Friday.

The council talked about possible solutions to bullying in community.

Over 20 young people were invited to address the role that parents, legislators, and teachers should play in putting an end to bullying.

Students who attended said they were glad to speak with community leaders about the issue.

Mayor’s Youth Council member, Calandra Jones says, “We had a couple of school board members here which I thought was wonderful, a school board president here, and Senator Hildenbrand. Despite the fact that these adults aren’t working with kids everyday they are definitely making policies now, as we see with Governor Snyders budget coming out, they’re making decisions that affect kids everyday so if your going to make decisions affecting us…why not hear from us.”

Representative Amash , State Representative Brandon Dillon, and Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell also attended the meeting.

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The Community Relations Committee of the Glen Rock Board of Education has planned the second “Rock Talk Live” seminar in its series on bullying, to be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4 in the Glen Rock High School Auditorium.

The board will again utilize a panel discussion format to focus on bullying issues of elementary children. Following the success of the earlier program on teen issues, this event will provide an opportunity for parents of younger children to hear first-hand experiences of area professionals who deal with this critical issue facing Glen Rock youth.

Panelists scheduled to appear include:

* Dr. Linda Weber is principal of the Richard E. Byrd Elementary School, where she introduced a No Bullying Program eight years ago, which includes a Peer Mediation Program for elementary children. Her leadership role on the Bergen County Flight Team has added to her career experiences on the issue of bullying, an area of particular interest to her as a professional educator.

* Dana Pavese, elementary guidance counselor for Glen Rock Public Schools, whose work in the district includes character development programming for students at all the elementary schools.

* Michael Karcher, physical education teacher at Byrd and Central schools who handles the Social Skills Decision Making program for students and also serves as the faculty advisor for the Byrd School peer mediators.

* Pauline Bergstein, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist in private practice in Englewood and Ridgewood working with children, teens and their families. She also serves as an instructor and supervising faculty member of the New York Institute of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and a teaching faculty member of the New Jersey Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis.

* Officer Matthew Stanislao, a member of the Glen Rock Police Department who serves as the D.A.R.E. instructor for students in grades 5-8 in the school district. In addition to his work teaching area youth how to resist drugs and alcohol, Stanislao works closely with the district to counter cyberbullying through programs at the grade school level used to raise student awareness of the responsibilities attached to the use of cell phones and the Internet.

Following brief presentations, both direct and anonymous questions from the audience will be addressed. The seminar is open to the public.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/120939604_Committee_will_host_bullying_seminar_May_4.html