Peabody students take on bullying

PEABODY-A group of students at the Higgins Middle School spent the last week informing their peers about the negative affects of violence and ways to avoid it as part of nationally-recognized Violence Prevention Week.Members of Peer Mediation and A World of Difference took over the school’s morning announcements each day last week to help spread their message, and hung more than a dozen posters throughout the building’s most traveled hallways. A new theme was carried out each day that touched on the various topics, such as “Manage Your Anger,” “Respect and Tolerance,” “Conflict and Resolution,” “Support Safety,” and “Unite in Action.”Seventh graders Kayla Zerfoss and Kelsey Baker are just two of the many students who took an active role in project.?There’s a lot of bullying in our school, and I want it to stop,” said Baker, adding that the level of name-calling and harassment varies and intensifies as the students get older.?It’s a big issue,” said Zerfoss.Bullying surveys conducted last year at the Higgins revealed that 40 percent of the student body is worried about being bullied. On a national scale, 42 percent of students said bullying occurred on a weekly basis.Although the girls reported some minor cases of physical violence, such as young boys playing rough in the hallways, the majority of the instances at the Higgins appear to be emotional.Janis Melanson, the school’s adjustment counselor and director of A World of Difference, said her program, as well as Peer Mediation, are prevention- and education-oriented programs driven by student conversations. Eighth graders typically work with the younger sixth graders and teach them how to take the time to get know others and not prejudge them.?Students listen to their peers more times than they do to adults,” she said.Guidance counselor Jessica Theriault said that more and more mediation referrals are coming in that they simply can’t keep up.?The program is growing and expanding, and it’s because of them,” she said. “It’s great.”Theriault said these initiatives, such as violence prevention week and the daily work done by the student groups, are essential.?If they spend less time and energy worrying about being teased, judged, or excluded?it frees up time to learn,” she said.Such programs are available through a $26,000 grant from the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, said Matarazzo. However, that support won’t be around come next year.