Two weeks ago, students flocked to three tables set up outside of the cafeteria during their lunch periods. There, they signed Ridge High School’s Anti-Bullying Pledge. This activity was part of the new October Anti-Bullying Initiative, the Week of Respect.
The Week of Respect is now recognized annually by the State of New Jersey, starting every first Monday of October, the Bullying Prevention Month. It was introduced into all public schools in New Jersey via the Anti Bullying Bill of Rights Act. The Act was passed on November 22, 2010, and the Week began to take place starting in the 2011-2012 school year. Both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature showed overwhelming support for the Act. The Anti Bullying Bill of Rights Act also states that the Week of Respect will focus on providing students with information and knowledge about bullying, in an effort to prevent all forms of harassment at school.
The event was largely organized by and advertised to the students by various school clubs, and the student body as a whole. Students were given and encouraged to sport green and purple wristbands with the catchphrases, “I took the pledge at RHS!” and “Bullying is Bull,” respectively, to spread the word of the Pledge.
The Week was also an effort to continue implementing the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program at Ridge High. The Olweus Program at Ridge was kicked off with a similar Bullying Prevention Week in January of 2011.
The Olweus program, created by Dr. Dan Olweus, believes in educating students, faculty, and parents about bullying and its negative effects. The goal of the program is to educate the community as a whole in order to reduce bullying. Olweus has already helped many other schools and communities with the issue of bullying, and there is faith the program can help Ridge, too. There are also many other anti-bullying campaigns run by Olweus as well, including the Million T-Shirt March. For more information, students are encouraged to visit the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program website, www.violencepreventionworks.org.
When asked about the actual effectiveness of the initiative, and its mission to educate students about bullying however, the responses seemed to differ.
In fact, some students thought the Week was ineffective. Vivek Gurumoorthy ‘17 states, “I thought that it didn’t really change the way anyone acted. I don’t think it’s a good way [to raise awareness about bullying], because though it has, good intentions, it doesn’t change the way people act. ”
But Amanda Gerdts ‘16 believes, “it really was indeed effective because not only did kids treat each other with respect during this one week, the respect will hopefully continue so issues with bullying are eliminated.”
It seems that the Week of Respect is only a beginning to the efforts to reduce bullying in New Jersey Schools. Although there are definitely changes that could be made to make the Week more effective, and incorporate students better, it is definitely a good start for society to be recognizing bullying as one of the major societal issues in school. The students of Ridge High seems to agree that there is definitely hope to eventually make school a safe space for students in the future.