Worthington District 518 is committed to each student’s success in learning within a caring, responsive, and safe environment that is free of discrimination, violence, and bullying. Our school works to ensure that all students have the opportunity and support to develop to their fullest potential and share a personal and meaningful bond with people in the school community.

Bullying: Unwanted, aggressive behavior among students that involves a real or perceived power imbalance the behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting harm.
There are many types of bullying including:
1. Physical Bullying: Physical bullying is hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
Hitting/kicking/biting
Spitting
Tripping/pushing
Taking or breaking someone’s things
Making mean or rude hand gestures

2. Verbal bullying: Saying or writing hurtful things. Verbal bullying includes:
Teasing
Name-calling
Inappropriate sexual comments
Taunting
Threatening to cause harm

3. Social bullying: sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
Leaving someone out on purpose
Telling other children not to be friends with someone
Spreading rumors about someone
Embarrassing someone in public

Effects of Bullying: Bullying can lead to problems sleeping or eating, harder to focus or pay attention, thoughts of suicide, not wanting to leave your house, not having any fun, headaches or stomachaches, lower grades, avoiding or skipping school, trouble trusting other people, losing interest in favorite things and other things.

Why people bully others: Bullies usually bully people for reasons like:
Culture
Institutional causes
Social issues
Family issues
The Bully’s personal life
To have power over the weak

Ways to prevent bullying:
1. Recognize and Respond: Bullying and intolerance manifest as verbal, written or physical acts that harm another person.
Educate students, parents and staff about taking bullying seriously and how to recognize it. Make an action plan to respond swiftly to incidents and daily teasing.
Identify and monitor places where most bullying happens (e.g., on the way to and from school, in the cafeteria, and on the school yard.)

2. Create Dialogue: Create opportunities for open dialogue with youth about bullying and intolerance. Let students lead through peer-to-peer action.
Provide opportunities for students to share their feelings, problems or ideas.
Get students involved in organizing anti-bullying forums where they resolve problems.

"3. Encourage Bystanders to Become Upstanders": Upstanders are people who stand up for themselves and others.
Model ways for young people to intervene and speak up. Practice with role-playing. Help youth develop effective phrases to reject negative comments or social media posts.

4. Foster Safety and Inclusion: Foster safe and welcoming environments that promote inclusion and acceptance, places where students feel everyone is respected and their identity is valued.
Connect with young people and create the trust that will help them come forward if they are being bullied.
Listen to them, pay attention and offer support when students are upset or sad.

5. Educate Your Community: Partner with others to take joint action in educating students, teachers and parents about bullying in your school and community.
Create a coalition of elected, school and civic community leaders to sign a school-wide pledge to say No Bullying: Not In Our School/Not In Our Town.
Sponsor a "Not In Our Schools" Week with buttons, banners, slogans, t-shirts and school-wide activities.

6. Make a statement: Standing up for yourself is a way of showing that you’re strong, it shows the bully that the weakness that they see in you is now gone.
Pull a group together and stand up for the ones that are getting bullied.
Tell your teacher,