Are You Worried About Bullying In Your Schools?
You’re not alone. Schools and parents across the country are struggling to prevent bullying and create safe, inclusive schools for students.
We’re here to help. Based on cutting-edge research and a decade of experience, CivilSchools provides you with a comprehensive framework for preventing bullying before it starts and responding to bullying behavior in more effective ways.
Sign-up to receive your free Bullying Survival Toolkit: 10 Steps to Building a Bullying-Free Culture for actions you can start to take today!
The CivilSchools™ Approach
CivilSchools™ empowers educators, students, and parents with the critical tools necessary to build a culture of civility where bullying is not acceptable.
CivilSchools™ interventions are tailored to your community and move beyond a simple focus on punishment and into the realm of transforming your school’s culture.
To learn more about what makes the CivilSchools™ approach unique, click here >>
FOR EDUCATORS
Get practical tools and training to help you build inclusive and bullying-free learning environments.
Click here >>
FOR PARENTS
Learn effective measures and prevention techniques to keep your child safe at school.
Click here >>
FOR STUDENTS
Develop a critical mass of students who interrupt bullying behavior and advocate for a culture of civility. Click here >>
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Want to Stop Bullying? You Can’t Without These 4 Critical Steps.
Kids want to be shown a pathway to healthy relationships. The end game is developing adults capable of developing authentic human connection and trust. Bullying behavior is an insidious force that threatens all stake holder’s ability to trust themselves and others. Bystanders are not free from feeling the effects from bullying behavior, we must engage and empower them in a deliberate and systematic manner.
UPstanders in Action: The HIVE at Woodstock Union High School
Check out the impact CivilSchools can have: student leaders in Woodstock, VT commit to transforming their school with “The Hive.”
Talking #ICantBreathe at Work
Discussing emotionally charged issues such as racism in the workplace is good for business, but takes strong leadership.
What is Making These Modern Day Gladiators Speechless?
Intimate Partner Violence and Teen Dating Violence are public health risks that need to be addressed by key influencers within a community. This article includes a great resource that will help foster healthy relationships.
How to Tell If Your Child Is Bullying Others (And What to Do About It)
Bullying has a measurable root that we can address. If we’re concerned that our child is being a “bully,” it’s best to start with the question, “Why?”
How to help “At Risk” Kids Succeed in Life.
The quickest way to stifle a student’s development is to set limitations on what they believe to be possible. Children in high risk situations need invested focus from a strength-based mentor committed to helping them see what they are capable of. They possess so many skills that can serve their development if framed properly.
Major Bullying Prevention Myth Debunked & Quick Lesson That Will Build Empathy In Students
Zero tolerance approaches to bullying don’t work. Fortunately, there are ways that you can inspire more lasting change in your school. This blog post lays out one strategy for doing so.
Tackling Identity-Based Bullying: Minnesota’s Safe and Supportive Schools Act
The Minnesota Safe and Supportive Schools Act is likely the most in-depth and research-based piece of bullying legislation in the country, focusing not only on the identity-based nature of bullying rooted in power but on diversity and inclusion efforts that can transform school climate to ensure bullying doesn’t take another life in Minnesota.
#BeNice: A Reminder to Listen to Young People
Thanks to an incredible young person named Jake, our Director of Education was reminded recently of just how much those of us who call ourselves “adults” can learn from young people.
Columbine High School: A Community Defined by Unity
After spending time leading trainings and an assembly at Columbine High School, our Director of Education Jamie Utt put together this creative video blog about his experience. In the video blog, Jamie discusses his preconceived notions about what he would find at Columbine. But what he actually found was NOTHING like what he was expecting…
The Healing Power of Community
As we work to engage our entire communities in ending bullying, take some time to reflect on the healing power of bullying.
6 Ways Parents Can Address Bullying
If you’re a parent of a school-aged child, it’s likely that you’ve been affected by bullying. With approximately 30% of students reporting being bullied and far more being peripherally affected or even traumatized by bullying, it’s a weighing concern on parents’ minds.
Educators: Investing in Student Achievement Means Investing in School Climate
Attention to student achievement has to extend beyond focus on math and reading concepts. Research tell us that investment into preventing bullying and building inclusive school culture and climate is investment in student achievement.
Is Bullying Preventable?
Share with your friendsYour NameYour EmailRecipient EmailEnter a MessageI read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called Is Bullying Preventable? and is located at http://civilschools.com/2014/01/29/is-bullying-preventable/.CaptchaSubmit I get this question asked of me often, usually with a high level of skepticism. Many adults believe that […]
CivilSchools Parent Dialogue-How Engaging in “Taboo” Conversations Can Eradicate a Bullying Culture
Jamie Utt and Eric Thompson discuss the importance of engaging in difficult, often taboo conversations and how they can lead to a bully-free culture.
CivilSchools Parent Dialogue – How to Build Empathy in Your Child to Prevent Bullying
In this CivilSchools Parent Dialogue, Jamie and Joseph will cover:
1. Reasons that open, honest communication with your child is vital to bullying prevention
2. How to build empathy in your child through critical conversation and modeling of empathetic behavior
3. How to teach your child to be an UPstander to prevent bullying
Ending Bullying: Being an UPstander
We have to offer people lots of entry points at which they can start speaking up for positive culture and speaking out against bullying. Our approach, then, is to break being an UPstander into three vital roles: Social Norming, Interrupting, and First Responding. Each offers a different type of action and level of commitment in being an UPstander.
CivilSchools Parent Dialogues – Proven Strategies to Prevent Children with Special Needs from Being Bullied
In this discussion, our Director of Education, Jamie Utt, leads a Q & A session with elementary school educator and mother of two Amy Lewis. Being that one of her children is touched by autism, she offers up some very real concerns to which all parents can relate. The exchange between her and Jamie produces some incredibly valuable insights.
Bullying, the Empathy Gap, & the Diffusion of Responsibility
One of our highest points of leverage in our society is the ability to develop empathic concern in our young people. Basically, understanding how a person feels is not enough to influence a bystander to become an UPstander, they must also care about the person’s well-being to take action and offer assistance. Schools and organizations able to create an other-oriented climate lay the foundation for community members to move from survival mode to performance mode.
Bullying Prevention From the Ground Up
Even the best policies, programs, rules and protocols will fail to reduce or prevent bullying, unless they can take root in a positive, caring school culture and climate, says Jim Dillon, director of the Center for Leadership and Bullying Prevention.