Tibbets Elementary School class takes four-rule pledge
By Heather Ruenz
Staff Writer
As part of the virtual Olweus Bullying Prevention Program’s national kickoff event Oct. 27, it was announced that a video submitted by a class at Tibbets Elementary School.
School counselor Cory Sotala and her students that won the award will receive copies of the new More Class Meetings that Matter and a $500 gift card.
In the video, the Tibbets’ students pledge the four rules of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.
The four rules the students pledge are as follows:
1) We will not bully others;
2) We will try to help students who are bullied;
3) We will try to include students who are left out;
4) If we know someone is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.
Students at Tibbets act out scenarios in the video to go along with the four rules.
The first scenario shows three girls in a group, pointing and laughing at another girl. A fifth girl walks up to the “bullies” and tells them, “We don’t bully at Tibbets School…” and makes a comment about hurting the other girl’s feelings.
The next scenario played out in the video shows a boy trying to take his turn on the climbing wall of the playground. After three different boys pull him away and cut in front of him, a fourth boy walks up and says, “That’s not cool guys. Let him go.”
To coincide with the rule about including students who are left out, a girl is shown sitting on a bench by herself while kids all around her are playing. A student in a group of five or six notices and encourages the others with her to invite her to join them, which they do.
The final scenario, related to telling an adult if someone is being bullied, shows a girl, after witnessing one student pushing another off a swing, reporting it to a teacher nearby.
The video also includes a photo of staff at Tibbets wearing Olweus t-shirts that state: We stand up. We don’t stand by.
“This program is truly helping to decrease the bullying in our district,” Sotala states in a description about the video.
To view the video, go to www.youtube.com and search “Olweus Bullying Prevention Pledge in Elkhorn.”
“Congratulations and thank you for all your work to support the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program,” Jan Urbanski, Director of Safe and Humane Schools for the Institute on Family & Neighborhood Life at Clemson University said in an email announcing Tibbets as one of the elementary school winners.
