For Lynn students, bully remedy is in the bag

LYNN – Students at the Washington school are working to “Bag Bullying” throughout Lynn one grocery shopper at a time.Ellen Patterson’s fourth-grade class came up with the idea to decorate brown paper shopping bags with anti-bullying messages. Last Tuesday, the class went to the State Street Shaw’s to meet with assistant store director Derek Bruhm, in an effort to spread the message to shoppers and their families that bullying needs to end.”It was my classroom’s idea and we decided to ask the other classrooms and they have all jumped on board from third all the way up to sixth grade. We know how important it is to stop bullying and this is our way to internalize it,” Patterson said.Students will bring decorated bags to the store for the rest of the school year, which Bruhm said is a great way to spread the message and a way for Shaw’s to show their support for the community and its schools.”We try to reach out to communities and they approached us. It seemed like a win, win (situation). It’s a positive message. The kids seem really excited about it and when the kids are excited about it, it usually reflects well on the school,” he said.Jerome McNulty is a fourth-grade student and he recognizes the issue is wide spread and not always an easy fix.”There is bullying in different schools. There is bullying all over the place. There is bullying on the streets and people want to stop bullying but they can’t,” McNulty said. “It’s hard. In my school lots of people swear and bully, so we are trying to stop that. I get bullied a lot, but I swear and I am trying to stop. I don’t bully other people and I just want to stop it so everybody in the school can be calm and not be in the hallway hitting things when we are trying to work.”Patterson said children need to know it is safe in all of the schools, that they will not be emotionally or physically harmed.”At a young age, children are learning they shouldn’t bully and there are ways to stick up for other people instead of being a bystander. We are empowering children with these words to take with them in situations,” she said.Sixth-grader Isaiha Berrios was affected when he heard about South Hadley student Phoebe Prince.”We saw that there was a girl who (committed) suicide because of bullying and now we are trying to prevent any more suicide or depression because of bullying,” Berrios said. “People get emotionally hurt and when they emotionally hurt the pain they have growing up starts affecting their personality and makes them angrier, worried and it makes it more of a possibility that they will start hurting people.”Karen Picone, who teaches third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, said it is important to stop bullying, especially in a big city school.”With the stuff in Hadley going on, it is important to start bringing it up in the early grades because when kids get bullied they turn around and then they’re bullies. They don’t recognize they are doing the same behaviors they don’t like. We are trying to do that Golden Rule thing. Treat others the way you want to be treated,” she said.Fourth-grader Natural Allen and third-grader Claudious Williams said a lot of kids at school bully. Their classmate, third-grader Noeli Hernandez, said that bullying scares her.”It gets you really scared and gets you really frustrated when people talk about you and hurt you. It is really scary. It is just scary because they are just bullying you and that’s not really nice,” she said.Hernandez suggests that kids tell their teachers and their mothers when they arrive home from school to stop bullying in its tracks. Earl Moore Jr., who is in fifth grade, explained that he is tired because when he gets bullied it keeps him up at night. He wants it to end so that he can get a good night’s sleep. Fifth-grader Gabby Mota said making the bags will be a good reminder to be nice.”Every time a person buys something they can use it, see what it says and it will make bullies stop being mean,” she said.