Novi Superintendent, Parents Discuss Anti-Bullying Policies

In light of new anti-bullying legislation in Michigan, Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews has been getting feedback from parents and students in the school district as he and the school board examine and update Novi's anti-bullying policies.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed the "" on Dec. 6, giving all Michigan public schools six months to develop clear anti-bullying policies that are required to be in place by the beginning of next school year.

The law is named after Matt Epling, a 14-year-old boy who committed suicide after being bullied in East Lansing High School in 2002.

The Novi Board of Education will review a draft of the updated bullying policy at its work session Thursday and will vote on finalizing the updates at its Feb. 23 meeting.

Matthews held an open forum with 17 parents Monday morning and with 22 parents Jan. 31 to get a sense of bullying issues in the schools and to discuss what needs to be addressed.

"We as a district believe that it's better to talk openly about these issues than it is to try to pretend that we're perfect Novi and that this stuff doesn't occur," he said. "When you compare us to other districts, we have a lot of positives, but I also know there are issues in our schools of kids not treating kids the way they should and with adults not treating kids they way they should."

Matthews said he also met in sessions with students last week, including a group of 30 fifth- and sixth-graders, a group of 25 middle schoolers and a group of six high schoolers.

"The students did report that bullying is a concern to them; however, they also communicated that it's not a huge issue, but they are aware that it does occur." Matthews said.

Matthews began the discussion Monday at the by reviewing in the district's policy.

He said one of the areas in which the district could improve is notifying parents of the bullied and the bullies when an incident occurs. He also hopes to organize the district so there is consistency between buildings and grade levels when addressing bullying.

Matthews will be the main administrator in charge of implementing the anti-bullying policy throughout the district and said he wants to prevent students from feeling a sense of despair and lack of hope from bullying. 

"The reality is, at least from my perspective, is that we can have all the anti-bullying policies that we want, but that's not going to prevent bullying from occurring," Matthews said. "What will prevent bullying from occurring is creating a culture that communicates to the students in our school and to the adults in our school that we're not going to tolerate that type of behavior, so they won't even think about engaging in that type of behavior."

Matthews said the district has a great relationship with the and with Officer Jeremy Stempien, the officer paired with the district.

Matthews said many of the students feel comfortable coming to Stempien with a problem.

Stempien said he personally tries to deal with bullying by hosting parent meetings with everyone involved to put some accountability back into the home.

"We are very committed to making sure that Novi offers the absolute best," Stempien said.

Ideas discussed by Matthews and parents:

• Students need to feel reassured that if they report bullying, they will remain anonymous and not face retaliation.
• Facebook is a bigger problem than text messaging in terms of bullying because it's not as personal and is out there for more people to see. Stempien recommends that parents print a screen shot of the comments to have proof of the online bullying. He also said parents should monitor their child's Internet usage, or at least pay attention to what's going on, to deter bullying.
• Careful attention needs to be paid during transportation to and from school and during lunch and recess, times when bullying is likely to occur.
• All adults involved in the schools, including staff and parent volunteers, will be trained on how to address and prevent bullying.
• All students from kindergarten through 12th grade will be surveyed this spring to get a better understanding of bullying in the schools.
• More meetings need to be conducted with more students to get a better understanding of bullying issues, especially in the high school.
• Punishments for acts of bullying should be effective.
• More parental support is needed to reinforce anti-bullying sentiments.
• Anti-bullying messages should be incorporated into the program.