Saving Money, Saving Kids

Nicole Stanton

Moderator R. Bradley Snyder, executive director of the Dion Initiative for Child Well-Being and Bullying at ASU, said school climate is the character and quality of school life and safety, including emotional safety, teaching and learning and relationship. He suggested that school officials should ask if there is a respect for diversity at the school and if there is a strong relationship between the school and the community, and good relationships between students and staff. Is the school building in good repair and conducive to learning? He said school violence in Arizona in the last 20 years is trending downward. When it comes to safety and violence in schools, we are already doing a good job. Could we do more? Yes. One number that is not going in the right direction is that students do not feel safer in their schools.

Snyder noted that there are many ideas and projects designed to prevent bullying, but we need to rely on things that are only evidence-based, evaluated and shown to be effective. It must be based on well-conducted research and the effects must be sizeable and improve the school climate, not just a little bit, but a lot. It must have an impact on final outcomes, be sustainable, sizeable and have the ability to be replicated.

Panelist Nicole Stanton, founder of the Dion Initiative and managing partner of Quarles and Brady LLP, said when her husband became mayor in 2012, she chose the issue of bullying as her focus because her oldest brother was a victim of bullying as a child. It was a personal issue for her. You cannot have a successful education as a child if you are in fear.  

T. Denny Sanford, professor in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at ASU, said the Sanford Harmony Program is a prevention approach designed to enhance peer relationships in Pre-K through 6th grade classrooms and is available to schools throughout the state at no cost.  Part of the teaching for early learners is through the use of a Puppet character named “Z.”  It is used to help children learn from each other.  Z comes from another planet and wants to know about girls and boys. The Harmony program currently is in 150 classrooms and is very successful.   Sanford said evidence-based practices and programs are very important.  Well-intentioned programs sometimes have no evidence in terms of their efficacy.  

Stanton added that the movie “Bully” is an example of what doesn’t work. The movie portrays peer mediation as a solution, but Stanton says peer mediation requires each side to give up something. She asked the audience, “Why would we ask a victim of bullying to give something up?” She maintains that zero tolerance does not work because children will not report friends if they think they will be kicked out of school. Schools must create an environment that encourages bystanders to report.

Mindy Blake

Amphitheater Unified School District