West Patent Students Learn to Say No to Bullying

“Be kind every day, it’s the West Patent way.” The West Patent Elementary School motto segued perfectly into a recent anti-bullying presentation by library media specialist Simone Loeffel and school psychologists Dr. Elissa Lesser and Dr. Helayna Pace.

The school psychologists talked about bullying, strategies to use when someone is being mean, and who to turn to if you're being bullied.

“Bullying isn’t something that happens one time,” Dr. Pace told a group of first graders. “If it happens once, the person could be having a bad day.” Still, she reminded them, “If someone’s not kind to you, you can use your brave voice to talk about it. You can say, ‘Stop. I don’t like that.’”

They then discussed if someone was really mean or if they’ve done something repeatedly, to go to a trusted adult and talk to them about it.

Once it was clear that students understood the meaning of bullying and what to do if they were being bullied, Loeffel, who has been doing this anti-bullying presentation since 2012, took over.

“Recently, we celebrated something called Inclusive Schools Week,” she said. “That week focused on being inclusive, which is one way we can be kind.”

Loeffel then pulled out the book “Bullies Never Win” by Margery Cuyler and began reading it to students, pausing regularly to ask them their thoughts and what they would do in certain situations the protagonist was faced with.

The book is about a girl named Jessica who is regularly bullied by a girl in her class. Jessica doesn’t want to be a tattletale, but she also doesn’t want to keep being treated this way.

“Jessica is very upset,” Loeffel said after Jessica was teased by her bully three times. “What do you think she should do?”

“She could tell a teacher!” one student called out.

“She could tell her parents,” another said.

“She could tell the principal,” said a third.

“That’s right! You have so many helpers if someone is being mean over and over again,” Loeffel said.

They kept reading, discussing how being nervous could make your stomach hurt and whether or not being mean back was a good strategy for dealing with a bully — the class consensus was “No!”

At the end of the story, Jessica stands up for herself.

“Does anyone know what it means to stand up to someone?” Loeffel asked.

“It means you have to be brave,” a student answered.

When they finished reading, the class compared Jessica’s faces at the beginning and the end of the book. It was clear that she was worried at the start and happy at the end.

“If someone is mean one time and says a very mean thing, that’s a time when you should tell right away,” Dr. Pace reminded students before they left. “And remember, that’s not tattling. That’s reporting.”