Essex DA school conference focuses on bullying

PEABODY – Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett’s 8th annual Spring School Safety Conference was a sold-out event featuring three nationally renowned experts on the growing issue of cyberbullying.The conference, “Prevention Strategies and Planning: Bullying, Cyberbullying and School Violence, was held for 300 attendees in the fields of education and law enforcement at the Marriott Hotel in Peabody.”This event is to hopefully recognize the problem by raising awareness, acknowledge that something has to be done,” Blodgett said. “The leaders here today, the school administrators, the police departments and health care providers will sort of take today to develop strategy. We know the really severe long and short term effects on people who are bullied. We are hoping to raise awareness, develop strategies and hope for best practices because of that. We can’t let bullying go unabated and untreated. We know what happens when you don’t put a spotlight on the problem.”Superintendent of Lynn Schools Catherine Latham said that she couldn’t miss the seminar.”The District Attorney’s office works with all of the schools and has some incredible, wonderful programs that we share with our principals and the parents, and they are willing to do anything to keep us informed,” she said. “What’s going to be discussed is what is important today as well as in the future. Bullying is going to be discussed, drugs and alcohol abuse and things of that nature. I believe I have a responsibility to know about those things and know the programs that are available to the citizens and students of Lynn.”Speakers included Robert Trestan, the civil rights counselor for the Anti-Defamation League; Robin Kowalski, psychology professor at Clemson University and co-author of “Cyber Bulling: Bullying in the Digital Age;” Dr. William Pollock, author of “Real Boys” and Richard W. Cole, Esq.Trestan gave the legislative update, informing those in attendance what they can expect from an anti-bullying law passed in Massachusetts, which would include anti-bullying training, policies and procedures in place at schools; staff and parent involvement; and regulations on how the model policy for the state works. Schools will create a curriculum to teach kids about bullying and the effects.”I think there is a lot to look forward to but what’s critical is how this is implemented,” Trestan said. “We can have a great law but if we don’t implement it then it’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Once we have the law, the next step is making sure it is implemented. Parents need to be armed with facts. If parents know what it says they can make sure that schools and the state are complying.”Washington Elementary School Director Nancy Takis-Conway said bullying is always an issue in an alternative school, but more so now because of texting and the Internet.”Like all schools, there are always incidences of bullying and especially in the news now with the cyberbullying and all of that, it is such an important issue,” she said. “Any way we can get ideas to implement within the school to get children to treat each other more respectfully and be a better, more productive member of society, we are all for it.”Kowalski gave an overview of what cyberbullying is and laid the foundation for that by talking about the “wire culture” today’s youth is growing up in. She revisited that point by talking about prevention and intervention strategies for parents who did not grow up with this technology.”One of the things we talk about is the case where kids know more than parents about the technology, partly because adolescents tend to be closed mouth about what they’re doing and if we put them in the driver’s seat and let them tell us what’s going on, it opens up communication,” she said. “I think that’s key because if I had to spell out one word for parents it is communication. They need to communicate with them about what’s going on online and who is sending them texts. We have to establish that