Safe Schools
Prevention Works - Just Ask Greg Oborny
KNEA member and elementary school principal Greg Oborny creates a safe environment that promotes learning. What is Oborny doing that works so well first at Olathe's Regency Place?
"I start with a strong dose of Jim Fay and staff development, add a life skills program, and then let kids make enforceable choices," he says. "The combination of programs dovetail nicely together."
At North, staff development started with Fay's "love and logic" concepts and the Life Skills program and character traits developed by Susan Kovalik. A word of the week, such as responsibility, respect, integrity or perseverance, is focused on in-and-out of the classroom.
Greg Oborny watches students describe what appropriate behaviors look like and sound like.
The Leadership Squad recognizes students practicing life skills. Students meet in his office and describe what life skills they've used. "First graders hear what sixth graders do and vice versa. They see we're all in this together," he noted. Oborny calls parents and tells them their child was in his office "for a neat thing." His goal is to visit with every student throughout the year.
Oborny says KNEA's training such as "Bullyproof" have been a great resource and tie into the life skills program.
"The KNEA training is integrated throughout our program. The Bullyproof training offered us new information and made us think differently," Oborny added. "It changed our paradigms in terms of how we look at bullies - why kids bully, the target roles and the kids who invite bullies to pick on them. We're better able to know what to do when we see it."
Oborny says the identification of bullies and the proactive components of KNEA's bullyproof program are excellent.
"We've had the post-bully process in place. It was the prevention piece we were needing. Prevention is a nice piece of the puzzle to help stop it before it happens," he said.
When do teachers call Mr. O? If the student is directly disrespectful, fighting or if "there's nasty stuff on the playground." The discipline starts with giving students choices. They "choose" to go to Mr. O's office.
He handles discipline in many ways. It may be an after school community service or times when students take time to think. He'll have students write letters to themselves about what they could or should have done. Then he'll mail those letters home to the students. Think papers explore the situation, the problem and solutions. Sometimes students fill out a flow chart to help them understand how an incident happened.
Resources
KNEA Professional Development Workshops
While KNEA offerings can be used for various age groups, "Bullyproof" is aimed at fourth and fifth grade students, "Flirting or Hurting?" is for grades 6 through 12, and "Quit It!" is specifically for elementary students, K-3. These, plus workshops such as Dealing with Difficult People, are free to local associations. Some charges apply to school districts. For details, contact the KNEA Instructional Advocacy Office in Topeka.
National Education Association:
www.nea.org
This site can also connect you to NEA state affiliates, other research, and national organizations. NEA's Works4ME Tips Library includes information on school safety that can be accessed through NEA's home page.
The following documents can be downloaded:
- Safe Schools Manual: A Resource on Making Schools, Communities, and Families Safe for Children
- Hate Motivated Crime and Violence: Information for Schools and Families
- NEA Action Sheets: Child Abuse and Neglect, Television Violence, School Violence: Perceptions and Solutions, Youth Gangs: Findings and Solutions for Schools, Communities and Families
- A Guide to New Federal Safe School Initiatives
U.S. Department of Education Resources on Safe and Drug Free
Schools and Communities
www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SEDFS/news.html
This site contains information about federal education programs, manuals, non-regulatory guidance, and links to other national school safety and substance abuse prevention organizations. The documents can be downloaded.
Prevention Yellow Pages
www.tyc.state.tx.us/prevention
A worldwide directory of programs, research, references and resources dedicated to the prevention of youth problems and the promotion of nurturing children.
Members are invited to e-mail the home page address of quality safe school Web sites to kneanews@knea.org.
From the KNEA Video Library
Teaching respect for others is one of the first steps in stopping violence in and out of schools. Toward that end the KNEA Human and Civil Rights Commission spent the last year reviewing materials that can be used to teach students respect for one another's differences. These materials can be ordered directly from the publisher or checked out from the KNEA Professional Library through the KNEA Instructional Advocacy Office
The Teaching Tolerance series by the Southern Poverty Law Center has several titles available free to classroom teachers when requested in writing by their principal on school letterhead.
Requests should be sent to: Teaching Tolerance, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104, or FAX 334-264-7310. Internet address: www.splcenter.org. The series is limited to one free package per school or organization.
Starting Small - Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades combines film and text to profile seven approaches to the shared goal of fostering respect for diversity. The teachers demonstrate ways to point out what's unique about every child and what every child has in common. The package is free to early childhood educators when requested by a principal on school letterhead. There is a cost for secondary educators.
*America's Civil Rights Movement - This teaching kit includes a 38-minute video and the 108-page text Free At Last. The secondary school materials make the civil rights movement real for today's students with historical footage, profiles of participants and photographs.
*The Shadow of Hate - A 40-minute video of historical footage and personal stories is included plus the 128-page text Us and Them. The materials tell the story of Americans who were hated simply for who they were, what they looked like, or what they believed.
Also included in the KNEA Professional Library is In Whose Honor? This film addresses the insensitivity or ignorance of those who believe that naming athletic team mascots after American Indians honors them.
NEA developed a resource called "Strengthening the Learning Environment: A School Employee's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Issues" which addresses the issues of education, safety, health and the law. This publication and In Whose Honor? can be checked out from the KNEA Instructional Advocacy department.
*Like all of the Teaching Tolerance series, these materials are available when requested by a principal on school letterhead.
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