It's easy for Darlene Halstead to encourage her TSYS colleagues to cross First Avenue and volunteer at Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy. The executive assistant to CEO and chairman Phil Tomlinon just tells them, "If you walk in there, you're going to feel like a rock star. Those kids are like, 'It's TSYS! It's TSYS!' They get so excited."
They have good reasons. More than 250 TSYS employees not only have lifted the school's spirit, but the Downtown staff credits their partnership with helping boost its test scores, thanks to their Ready to Race program. Downtown and TSYS presented an overview of R2R at one of the 24 breakout sessions Friday during the Greater Columbus Partners in Education 2013 Kickoff Conference in the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. In the past year, Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy has reduced its number of reported bullying cases more than any other Muscogee County public school, according to district data. Downtown had the most bullying cases in the district in 2011-12, with 56, but decreased that number in 2012-13 to nine, as of last month. Three Muscogee County schools went from double-digit bullying incidents last school year to zero this year with a month of school remaining-- Veterans Memorial Middle from 26, Spencer High from 16, and Early College Academy from 12. Overall, the district's total number of reported bullying incidents has dropped about 46 percent -- from 623 in 2011-2012 to 335 in the current school year.Elementary schools and high schools have cut their number of bullying incidents roughly in half since the 2011-2012 school year -- high schools dropping from 113 to 56 incidents, and elementary schools from 228 to 108.Reducing bullying remains a struggle in middle schools, where the total number of bullying incidents has dropped slightly, from 182 to 171, with several weeks remaining on the school calendar. At Downtown Elementary, reducing bullying seems to have started with planting seeds. Two years ago, after each Downtown class had begun its own garden, principal Tonya Douglass looked for students to help plant the principal's garden. She figured gathering six notorious bullies together might be a good idea. These students didn't know why they were chosen, but they learned they could use their words and actions for a positive purpose. These bullies, whose ugly behavior lowered the esteem of fellow students, got down on their knees with Douglass to grow some beauty. They planted seeds of respect along with the pansies and snapdragons and violas. For 15-20 minutes three times a week, they nurtured their garden and they let down their tough-guy guards. "They would talk to the plants so gently, so sweetly," Douglass said. "The other kids they were mean to weren't out there. I think if they were and they had an audience, they wouldn't have done that." Through a request under the state's Open Records Act, the Ledger-Enquirer received the number of bullying cases reported at each Muscogee County school in 2011-12 and this year, as of last month. This school year, Hannan Elementary Magnet Academy has reported 17 bullying cases, the most among elementary schools, but that number has dropped considerably, from 43 last year. The middle school and high school with the most bullying incidents have actually seen an increase since last year: Eddy has 36 reported bullying incidents, up from 34, and Carver has 16, up from 10. Douglass, in her fourth year as Downtown's principal, doesn't have statistics that show whether the gardening prompted those bullies to decrease their destructive behavior, but she is convinced the school-wide project is an example of a larger lesson: The more reasons students have to play a part, the fewer chances they have to pull apart."They find something in common," Douglass said. "Those little hands, they are caring and cooperating. They are invested and they love it. Activities like that cause us to further bond and appreciate one another." Garry McGiboney, associate state superintendent for policy at the Georgia Department of Education, has worked 38 years in education, including 10 years as a school psychologist in DeKalb County. He considers the Downtown gardening project the type of activity that should bloom at every school. "We are in a learning environment, so we teach things like reading and writing and math," McGiboney said, "but we also have to teach pro-social behavior. State perspective Bullying is among the 28 categories of discipline the state's public schools are required to report to the Georgia Department of Education, which uploads the data to the U.S. Department of Education, McGiboney said. But bullying has been a required category in the state for only two school years. Some schools used to report bullying as "violence" or "simple battery" or not at all, McGiboney said, before the Georgia Legislature changed the state law in 2010. McGiboney praised schools such as Downtown for being proactive. "Instead of just reacting to bullying, they encourage prevention of bullying by viewing the entire school climate," he said. "We have found in research that in schools with the positive behavior intervention support their discipline referrals have dropped significantly." 'Every single day' Despite the school's success in reducing bullying, Douglass says she insists that her staff, students and parents remain vigilant. "It really is a monster we fight every single day," she said. Douglass shines light on the dark code of silence against "snitching." "Sometimes, our children come from a culture where they don't snitch," she said. "I tell them, 'I understand in your neighborhood those might be the rules you have to live by, but, in this school, you can't live by that rule.'"
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Author Leatha D. Williams
Ms. Williams started her teaching career in Knoxville, TN in 2003, after receiving Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Science in Secondary Education degrees from the University of Tennessee. She has taught in Fulton and Cherokee counties, but she joined the Pebblebrook family in 2014 and is proud to call Cobb County her home. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, hiking, collecting famous author action figures, and spending time with family and friends, but mostly she loves sharing the joy of language with a new group of kids every year! Ms. Williams is among professional writers at Edusson that write a tailor-made Persuasive essay outline. Ms. Williams lives in Leicester, UK with her husband, her beautiful daughter Isabel, two annoying orange cats, and Chico the Chihuahua. |