By Julie ConreySpecial to the RecordBullies in Warren County schools beware. Inappropriate behavior is only a text message away from being caught and addressed by an administrator.Since 2012, Warrenton High School and Black Hawk Middle School students have had the ability to anonymously text bully behavior to administrators.They can thank an observant and persistent middle school associate principal and a St. Louis-based technology company that took the problem of reducing school violence head on, making schools safer and more learner-friendly.The CyberBully Hotline, a product of SchoolReach, was introduced to schools across the country in 2011. SchoolReach is a St. Louis-based company that provides schools the technology to notify parents via various forms of media when school is canceled due to inclement weather, lockdown situations, school lunch balances and more.The CyberBully Hotline helped Black Hawk Middle School reduce fighting incidences by 90 percent, according to school officials. These results led to an award for Excellence in New Communications from the Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to studying the latest advancements in communications tools and their effects on business, culture and society. It is the second award the CyberBully Hotline has received.Black Hawk Middle School Associate Principal Sean Kelsch found, investigated and worked to implement the CyberBully Hotline in the Warren County R-III School District.Uptick in fightingIn about 2010, Kelsch noticed an uptick in fighting, bullying and harassment among students, behaviors that educators not only in Warren County, but across the country, consider violent. His “breaking point” was during the 2011-2012 school year when about 62 students were disciplined for fighting. Many of the fights involved horseplay that went too far or a student teasing another student.“When you have an event like a fight, it’s on everyone’s forefront,” Kelsch said. “We had been going through some spells like this. We had a fight in the lunchroom and (saw) more violent trends going up.”As a result, Kelsch and several educators in Warren County formed a committee to discuss the trend and develop an action plan to decrease the rise in school violence.While supervising a field trip to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, a message on the Jumbotron caught his eye. There was a number that flashed across the screen and a message saying that if a patron had a problem in his or her seat, text this number. The idea of anonymously reporting an incident struck home with him. He took this idea back to the committee and began investigating Internet-type services that would allow students to anonymously report school violence.The Warren County R-III School District already worked with SchoolReach. “When we started developing CyberBully Hotline we saw more and more kids going online,” said Margaret Schatz, national marketing director of the service. Although kids are in school from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., their use of technology makes it easier for bullying to occur outside the classroom, and equally as easy for it to flow back into the classroom. Although traditional forms of bullying, such as fights in the lunchroom and recreation areas still occur, they are becoming less of an issue while cyberbullying incidents are becoming more frequent, said Schatz.90 percent decreaseSince the CyberBully Hotline was introduced during the 2012-2013 school year to Black Hawk Middle School only six students received school discipline for fighting, a 90 percent decrease, Kelsch said. “All categories of behavior that would fit under violent or serious behavior were reduced. We are on the same trend this year. After the first semester, offenses are down from even the first semester of last year.” This year 106 text messages and eight voice mails have come in to the CyberBully Hotline, he added.Texting is a student’s preferred method of communication. Since a student is allowed to use his or her phone during noninstructional times, this really helps the CyberBully Hotline. “Kids can text about situations in school that could possibly be a problem. It’s very comfortable and anonymous for them. It takes away the stigmatism of being called a ‘snitch.’ People can address this without getting a target on their back,” Kelsch said.CyberBully Hotline 2.0 was introduced in June 2013. “Certain issues require a different level of response (from administrators),” said Schatz. “Sally bringing a gun to school is different than Sally cheating on a test.” The new system requires immediate attention from an administrator when the words guns, suicide, bombs and kill come across in a text message from a student. The words were incorporated into the new system by a panel of experts and authorities from across the United States.In addition to the CyberBully Hotline, Black Hawk Middle School has other programs in place to reduce bullying incidences. SAVE, Students Against School Violence in Education, is a club, although its members are not readily identified. The students discuss how to be good witnesses to a bullying incident, and how to support victims and one another. School counselors did their part in helping reduce school violence as well. The school provides some adult connections for students who feel victimized. Their favorite teacher is identified, and a family member is brought into the loop forming a support group for the student when he or she is feeling down.Black Hawk Middle School has also changed the way it promotes behavior in the school. “Sometimes kids who are seeking attention might cross over to bad behavior to get it,” Kelsch said. SWPBS stands for School Wide Positive Behavior System. It focuses on five categories of behavior: safe, caring, responsible, respectful and engaged learner. “When a student’s behavior is brought to my attention, it’s easy for me to sit down with him or her and ask if the behavior fell under one of the five categories. That’s a way to be consistent across the board with how we handle behavior and to encourage proper behavior,” he added.According to Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith, assistant superintendent of the Warren County R-III School District, the CyberBully Hotline costs the school system less than $2,500 per year to operate.Is it worth it?“Oh for sure, definitely,” Klinginsmith said. “It makes our schools a safer place. When students see our principals react to a bully hotline (text) the message gets out to the rest of the kids that bullying won’t be tolerated.”As for Kelsch, the changes he has seen in his 725 students because of the CyberBully Hotline have been far-reaching. “I am just starting my doctoral program and I am just so fascinated with this system that I am considering incorporating it into my doctoral research,” he said.

Photo by Kathleen Berger