Stopping School Violence Before It Starts
BellSouth Foundation Program Takes Aims

The BellSouth Foundation is currently funding new programs in the Gulfport and McComb Mississippi public school districts to help sixth graders learn the skills they need to deal with teasing, bullying and other situations that may escalate into violence. "Unfortunately teasing and bullying are often overlooked as contributors to violent and harmful behavior," said Judy Vessey, professor, The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

"Research shows, however, that 10 percent of children are chronically teased in school, which often results in violent, and sometimes deadly, consequences, as evidenced by recent headline news. "Companies like BellSouth should be commended for supporting programs that teach our children positive ways to interact with each other," she said. Vessey is a consultant to the BellSouth initiative Linking Health to Education Reform.

"More and more, teachers are finding that students' fighting, bullying and arguing is absorbing the time usually spent on reading, writing and arithmetic," said Kenny Hudson, assistant principal, Central Middle School in Gulfport, Miss. "Our goal as educators is to create a safe place where our children can learn and grow."

Second Step, a national program adopted by the BellSouth Foundation grantees in Gulfport and McComb, uses a school-based social skills curriculum to teach children how to change attitudes and behaviors that contribute to violence. Students in the Second Step program participated in a series of role-playing activities to help them communicate feelings and uncover positive ways to resolve problems. Specially trained teachers used an "if, then" approach to conflict resolution, allowing students to act out their initial responses to a situation then brainstorm more positive methods for dealing with the conflict. With the role-playing method, students play the part of the perpetrator as well as the victim so they understand how it feels to be bullied or to be the topic of gossip.

The McComb program gained national news media attention from NBC News and was featured on World News Tonight with Tom Brokaw. "We realize that violence isn't an issue that schools should have to worry about," said Leslie Graitcer, BellSouth Foundation executive director, "but when it interferes with students' ability to learn and teachers' ability to teach, schools have no choice but to pay attention to the problem."

The BellSouth Foundation grants to the Mobile and Gulfport schools are part of a Foundation special initiative to address a broad spectrum of health issues as they relate to education reform. Programs funded as part of the initiative include family counseling and school-based community clinics, among others. "This initiative is an added dimension to our current work of helping improve teacher quality, incorporate technology into learning, and other more academic focuses," said Graitcer. "However, it is just as important. If students don't come to school healthy, happy and ready to learn, academic programs won't have an impact. We want to help make sure that nothing gets in the way of student learning."

Here are some other ways that BellSouth Corporation and the BellSouth Foundation are addressing school violence through prevention: - BellSouth has sponsored conflict resolution retreats for students and teachers at Guice and Campbell elementary schools, BellSouth's adopted schools in Atlanta. - A Foundation grant to Troy State University in Alabama focused on the needs of school counselors to help them be more proactive in their work with students. It provided technology training to the counselors and an e-mail network for their use. School violence is the first topic they will discuss through the network and at a conference also supported by the grant. For information on these and other efforts supported through the Foundation, visit this site: http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/bsf