Bullying Prevention Week Begins at BCPS in October

From Baltimore County Public Schools:

If only would-be bullies would hear and take to heart this year’s theme for the school system’s annual BCPS Bullying Prevention Week, life might be a little better for everyone: “Be Smart. Don’t Start!”

The good advice/warning will be everywhere during this year’s event, which is scheduled to run from Tuesday, Oct. 4, through Friday, Oct. 7. The four-day campaign will feature special activities each day, bullying prevention pledges for students to sign, and a day to flood social media with positive messages as a symbolic blow to cyberbullying.

“We all need to remind ourselves and each other that we’re always better than bullying,” says BCPS Superintendent Dr. S. Dallas Dance, whose Student Advisory Council joined with Baltimore County Student Councils several years ago to create Bullying Prevention Week. “Throughout this week, our students are reminding one another as well as the larger community to reject bullying by stopping it before it begins. All of us can be smart by opposing bullies and bullying everywhere from the start.”

From Tuesday through Friday, students will be asked to wear the day’s theme color and reflect on a value of the day. On Tuesday, Oct. 4, for example, students will wear green for equity and be invited to sign a bullying prevention pledge. Throughout the week, schools will participate in a variety of suggested activities or design activities of their own, many of them related to the theme of the day. Following Tuesday’s green and equity, students will be encouraged to wear yellow for empathy on Wednesday and red for respect on Thursday. Activities may include encouraging students to meet new friends at lunch; participating in random acts of kindness; hosting guest speakers; and creating positive music videos. On other days, students will be invited to create apps or music videos, tell their personal stories about bullying, or invite speakers to talk about the perils of bullying. On Friday, students countywide, wearing purple for positivity, will focus on cyberbullying awareness, and the campaign will seek to combat negativity with positive tweets using the hashtag #DontStart.

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