School Bullying Council

Palmer – Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon – Palmer High School guidance counselor Frederick G. Dileone, right, and students who worked on anti-bullying video from left: Nicole C. Prosperi, Troy R. Remillard, Grant E. Farr, Joseph H. Roberts and Lily G. Ghrear.

PALMER – “If it’s mean, intervene.”

That’s the title and the key message of the latest anti-bullying video produced by a group from Palmer High School’s “Students as Technology Leaders” class with help from guidance counselor Frederick C. Dileone.

With more than 100 hits so far on YouTube, the students hope their message continues to spread, and that their video will encourage other teens to take a stand against bullying.

“The more people that see this, the better,” said sophomore Joseph H. Roberts.

Sophomore Grant E. Farr, freshmen Lily G. Ghrear and Troy R. Remillard, and junior Nicole Prosperi also worked on the three-month project, using a Flip video and still cameras to film life at Palmer High. Troy and Nicole were the actors in the 4-minute video, enduring staged “bullying” by their peers.

Acting was something new for Troy, but not Nicole, who is active in drama. The scenes depict what a bullying victim could experience – a garbage-filled locker, isolation in the cafeteria, hair pulling, a nasty text message, being thrown up against a wall.

The students said it was time consuming to piece together the footage, but Dileone said Joseph, who also was involved in last year’s video, “Bullying is a Worldwide Problem,” proved to be indispensable with his computer skills.

Word about the video is spreading in the Palmer High community, and Dileone hopes it will be shown to students in seventh- through ninth- grades. The younger grades typically have the most problems with bullying, he said, although the students agreed that they don’t think Palmer has as many issues with bullying as other school districts.

The district started the anti-bullying initiative before the death of Phoebe Prince in South Hadley. The freshman from Ireland hanged herself last year after intense bullying by a group of students, who were charged in connection with tormenting her. Their cases were resolved last week in court proceedings in Hampshire County.

Dileone said the Palmer High videos are part of superintendent Gerald A. Fournier’s commitment to anti-bullying efforts in the district. These efforts helped the district receive a grant for security cameras at the high school. They should be in place for next school year.

The first video highlighted the back stairwell, with ominous shots of it, where bullying was said to occur by the students. That will be one of the places the security cameras will be installed.

While the first video focused on the definitions of bullying, this video focused on the responsibility of the bystander, Dileone said. “We tried a different approach,” he said.

Lily said working on the project was a lot of fun, and that she learned a lot in the process. Dileone said they used statistics from the 2009 I-Safe Foundation about bullying, such as: 20 percent have been made fun of, 6 percent were threatened with violence, 4 percent had items stolen, 160,000 students miss school daily because of bullying, and 18 percent have had rumors spread about them.

The statistics are interspersed with scenes from Palmer High – Nicole cornered in the rest room, Troy being threatened with a volleyball.

The eighth-grade poster contest winners also were highlighted in the video. They included: Marilyn Mahan’s “No bulls, just peas!,” showing peas in a peace sign; Julia Waite’s “Why bully when you can be friends” showing a handshake; and Larissa Giard’s “Bullies are animals,” depicting a bull. They all received amazon.com gift certificates.

Viewers are told who they can turn to if they are being bullied – friends, teachers, staff, parents, guidance counselors, nurses.

And, it ends with the message: “How can you help someone today? Don’t be a bystander, intervene.”

Said Dileone, “It may not be seen by some students as a popular role to assume when responding to bullying, but Palmer High School is committed to changing that thought process.”

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/palmer_high_school_students_cr.html

• Video
• Image

Mobile phone footage shows a fight between two boys at a Sydney school with one boy being thrown to the ground.

World famous: Bullying victim Casey Heynes. Picture: Channel Nine.
Source: Supplied

Enough is enough: Casey Heynes takes action against another student. Picture: Facebook
Source: The Daily Telegraph

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IN just one week, Casey Heynes went from having one friend to 230,000.

The 16-year-old became a global Internet sensation after he was filmed picking up a bully in the schoolyard and throwing him to the ground after being repeatedly punched in the face for being “overweight”.

During an interview with A Current Affair , Casey said he had been bullied almost every day at school and even contemplated suicide a year ago when the taunts became too much.

“I started putting myself down and all the crap just kept piling on,” he said.

“That’s when I contemplated suicide.”

A Year 10 student at Chifley College, St Marys, Casey said he was being targeted by a new gang of Year Seven students last Monday when he was attacked by Ritchard Gale.

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World wide fame for Casey

Standing up against the wall with nowhere to move, Casey was punched repeatedly by Ritchard until he snapped – lifting the Year Seven bully over his shoulders and throwing him to the ground.

Victim of bullying a hero in web attack

The footage was captured by another student, who filmed the incident on his mobile phone and then posted it on YouTube.

Casey Heynes gets suspended over bully attack

Casey said his outburst was a “build-up” of more than three years of being attacked verbally and physically by other students.

“They used to slap me on the back of the head and said I was a fatty and to lose some weight.

“I’ve been duct taped to a pole before as well. They target me because I don’t retaliate.

“I’ve never reacted that way before but everything built up inside me for three years…I just had enough. All I wanted is for it to stop.”

His celebrity status peaked once again after his interview last night, with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter – which have more than 230,000 followers – labelling him “a hero”.

One blogger, Wayne McCoy, said minutes after the television interview: “you have inspired alot of kids who have and are being bullied. you have changed lives. well done mate. hopefully the bullies will learn thier lesson.”

Others, like Aidan Blackley, said: “Good on ya!!! ur a legend”.

Casey said he had been overwhelmed by the amount of people who backed him after last week’s footage went viral.

“I’ve never had so much support before,” he said.

“Nobody touches me and teases me anymore.”

Both Casey and Ritchard were suspended by the school following the incident, as well as the student who filmed it on their mobile phone.
 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/casey-heynes-breaks-silence-over-bully-video-from-chifley-college-and-thoughts-of-suicide/story-e6freuy9-1226024997247

The bully gets a new perspective on life: upside down and heading for the concrete.

Casey Heynes, a 10th Grader in Sydney Australia, fought back against a schoolyard bully Monday and is now a world-wide hero for doing it.

A friend of the bully recorded a video of the confrontation to post on YouTube to humiliate Casey, but things didn’t turn out that way.  The video went viral, people from all over the world are applauding Casey for fighting back, the citizens of Sydney are divided over it and now the bully looks like the chump.

Sixteen-year old Casey says he “snapped” after constant bullying because of his weight.

“All I was doing was defending myself. I’ve never had so much support,” he said during an interview with A Current Affair.

The bully is a much smaller 7th Grader who felt confident that he could punch Casey in the face without having a fight on his hands.   He backed the much larger boy against the wall and started throwing punches.  Finally Casey had enough and picked him up and threw him down hard on the concrete.

He was asked if he was a superhero, he replied with a laugh, “No, but I wish I was.”

Both boys were suspended for four days in accordance with established school guidelines.

The people of Sydney may be divided over the affair, but the world is clearly not:  websites and Facebook fanpages like  Casey the Punisher or this YouTube tribute with music sprang up overnight hailing his action.

You be the judge:

http://aquapour.com/schoolyard-bully-video-goes-viral/556427/