STOP BULLYING MAINE:
Working with Maine schools to prevent bullying.

Who we are
What is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program?
What does research say about the Olweus program?
How do schools implement the Olweus program?
What materials are needed?
What are the training costs?
Resources for grant funding for Olweus interventions in Maine
Contact us

Who we are:
Stan Davis, Molly Mercer, and Chuck Saufler are Maine educators who have supported schools throughout Maine in reducing bullying. All three of us have experienced successful bullying prevention programs from the inside, working as staff in schools that were reducing bullying. We are also certified trainers and consultants in the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Between us we have more than 70 years of experience in education and counseling and more than 20 years of experience in bullying prevention. 
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What is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program?

    The Olweus program  is a research-based schoolwide program designed to prevent or reduce bullying in elementary, middle or junior high schools through the restructuring of the school environment. The Olweus interventions reduce opportunities and rewards for bullying, and empower peer bystanders to take appropriate action. 
    School staff is largely responsible for introducing and implementing the program. Their efforts are directed toward improving peer relations and making the school a safe and positive place for students to learn and develop. 
   This research-based program combines interventions at four levels:

Schoolwide:

  • Administration of the Olweus Bully/ Victim Questionnaire. 
  • Formation of a Bullying Prevention Coordinating Committee. 
  • Training for all staff.
  • Development and enforcement of schoolwide rules and disciplinary procedures against bullying. 
  • Improving supervision in areas where bullying often takes place.

Classroom Interventions: 

  • Regular classroom meetings about peer relations and bullying.

Individual-level Interventions:  

  • Individual meetings with children who bully. 
  • Individual meetings with children who are the targets of bullying. 
  • Meetings with parents of children involved.

Community interventions

More information
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What does research say about the Olweus program?
Extensive evaluations of the program worldwide have shown: 

  • A 30% to 70% reduction in student reports of being bullied and bullying others 
  • Reduction in existing bully/victim problems as well as prevention of the development of new cases of bullying 
  • Significant reductions in student reports of general antisocial behaviors (e.g., vandalism, fighting, theft, and truancy) 
  • Significant improvements in classroom order and discipline  
  • More positive attitude toward schoolwork and school 
  • Improved peer relations at school

 In the United States, the Olweus intervention has been recognized as a model program by the following organizations: 

  •  The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention  
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 
  • U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services 
  • and The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.

 It is one of only 11 'Blueprints for Violence Prevention' Model Programs.
More information
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How do schools implement the Olweus program?

  • Schools begin by reviewing the program's goals and structure to see if this program is a good fit. We will help you evaluate your school's readiness for the Olweus program.
  • A bullying prevention committee is developed which represents the components of your school; it also includes parents.
  • We train your committee and help them develop a training program for all staff. This committee training takes two days. 
  • The school uses the Olweus Bully-Victim Questionnaire to determine the patterns of bullying, hot spots needing additional supervision, and special needs for intervention.
  • The bullying prevention committee trains all school staff in a half-day to full-day workshop, and works over time to improve the effectiveness of disciplinary and educational approaches to bullying. We work with you through ongoing consultation to help with this process..
  • Staff participate in ongoing discussion groups and begin to implement components of the model.
  • Staff and students participate in kickoff events.
  • The school works with parents and other community members to implement the program.
    Here is a scope and sequence description of the Olweus program
    and a suggested timeline for implementation.
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What materials are needed?

What are the training costs?
The fee for training and consultation is $3000. This includes:

  • Pre-training consultation to help you evaluate readiness for the program, choose a committee, and plan the intervention;
  • Two days of training for the bullying prevention committee and consultation to help them design and implement staff training;
  • Guidance in administering and interpreting the Bully-Victim Questionnaire;
  • Ongoing consultation for one year, to include 1 hour per month phone consultation, unlimited email consultation, and two site visits (there will be an extra fee of $25/hour travel time for site visits more than one hour from the trainer's office).
  • The school is responsible for copying costs for handouts and for buying program materials.

NOTE: One suggested Maine funding source for grants is the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group
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Finding Funding for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Maine

Federal support for the Olweus Program comes from SAMHSA, through the Office of Substance abuse in Maine.   One Maine grants through the Maine Office of Substance Abuse have supported the bullying programs in several areas of Maine. For more information go to: http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/bds/osa/fiscal/index.htm
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention sometimes issues RFP’s for violence prevention programs such as the Olweus Program  http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/funding/funding.html
In the Midcoast area the Knox County Coalition Against Tobacco (KCCAT) has been working on an additional grant to support an expansion of the Olweus Program in that area. 
It pays to check the Maine State resource lists frequently such as:
Maine DOE grant information  http://www.state.me.us/education/grantlist.htm
Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group http://www.state.me.us/corrections/jjag/

 

Contact us

Email us at molly@stopbullyingmaine.com , stan@stopbullyingmaine.com ,  or chuck@stopbullyingmaine.com
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We invite your school to participate in a groundbreaking research project about bullying 
in fall and winter, 2009.

    Bullying and harassment affect many students, yet few researchers have asked students what really works to reduce these behaviors. Schools across the United States are participating in a new research project by Dr. Charisse Nixon and Stan Davis to do just that, and you are invited to join them.

    This project has been approved by the IRB (research ethics review panel) at Penn State University. We seek a wide range of elementary, middle and high schools for this project – small, large, urban, rural, private, public and representing different geographic areas, ethnic characteristics and income levels. We seek schools that have implemented bullying prevention, harassment prevention and other social justice initiatives and those that have not yet implemented these programs. There will be no cost to the school for students to participate in this anonymous on-line survey.

    This research study is the first large-scale effort to ask young people what works in bullying and harassment prevention based on their own experiences and observations. The information we gather will help to identify the most effective and realistic strategies for targets of bullying, adults, and peer bystanders to use to prevent and mitigate the effects of bullying. We believe it is time for young people to help define what effective interventions may look like in the school setting. We believe that students are an invaluable resource when it comes to increasing our understanding of effective prevention and intervention efforts related to bullying. They are the true experts on what works.

    Our goal is to compile a body of knowledge of the most helpful interventions in order to help adults and youth reduce bullying and harassment in their own schools. We want to give young people a powerful voice in shaping future interventions. We will use their knowledge as the basis for a book and website which will guide educators, parents, and youth in applying effective interventions to reduce bullying and optimize students’ development.

    Identities of specific schools participating in this project will remain confidential and all student responses, anonymous. Each participating individual school will receive a detailed summary of students’ responses to the survey questions along with summary data representing schools across the United States.

    All students in grades five to twelve are eligible to participate in this study. The survey will ask young people who have been bullied or harassed what they, adults and bystanders did, and which of those actions worked to help them feel safer and more connected in school. The survey will also ask young people who have observed bullying and harassment what they and others did and what the results of their actions were.

    You can preview the survey at http://tinyurl.com/lz2o4q

NOTE: You or your students may notice that the questions they get are not numbered consecutively. The survey is set up
 to offer young people two sets of different followup questions based on each student's answers to earlier questions, 
so different students will have a different path through the survey based on how they answer questions. Students who say
 that they were treated badly by peers get questions focused on what helped *them*. Students who say that they were 
not treated badly by peers get a different set of questions- about what they observed when *others* were mistreated. 
We chose this path to shorten the time needed for students to take the survey.

    If your school chooses to participate in this study, we will work with you to define a time period for your students to complete the survey in your computer laboratory or on other school-based computers. We will set up a customized URL for your school We expect the survey to take less than 45 minutes to complete.  We welcome any feedback or questions you may have. We urge you to participate in this exciting research project and hope you will also pass this invitation on to other schools.

    To take part in the Youth Voice Project, or to ask questions, please email 
Stan Davis at stan@stopbullyingnow.com or Charisse Nixon at cln5@psu.edu. 

     We will set up a customized URL (world wide web address) for each participating school, to allow us to provide you with a summary of your individual school’s data. Schools participating in the survey will not be identified by name and all data is strictly confidential. To set these URLs up, we need the name of each participating school. Once we have that information we will send you the URL for each school’s survey. The IRB has approved an opt-out permission letter to be sent home to parents. English and Spanish versions of this permission letter are available.

Yours truly,

Stan Davis and Dr. Charisse Nixon

About the researchers:

Dr. Charisse Nixon is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at Penn State Erie in Pennsylvania and is the author of several research articles. She is also the coauthor of “Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying” (Fireside, 2003) as well as several scholarly articles.

Stan Davis is the author of Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying (2nd edition, Research Press, 2007) and Empowering Bystanders in Bullying Prevention (Research Press, 2007). He trains schools throughout the United States and works as a school guidance counselor in Maine.