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Students from Meadow Hill GEM School and Heritage Middle School Learn to Diffuse Bullying
Students from each school spent two days learning to recognize and diffuse bullying situations as part of the Safe Schools Ambassadors Program. There was a lot of activity – students worked in groups, roll played and acted our scenarios. They were given scripts for responding to and defusing bullying.
More about the Safe Schools Ambassadors Program:
The Safe Schools Ambassadors Program, funded in part through an Orange County Department of Mental Health, Youth Bureau and United Way cooperative grant, works with districts in selecting student leaders to participate in a two-day skills development program preparing students to address bullying, cyberbullying and harassment. Heritage Middle School and Meadow Hill were awarded grants for the first round of funding. Each building selected 25 students and 5 faculty members to attend the 2 day trainings. Principals were asked to select students who demonstrate leadership capacity.
The training and curriculum is provided by a California based organization Community Matters. This program has been implemented in over 1,500 schools and is currently being used regionally. The program overview is available at:
http://community-matters.org/programs-and-services/safe-school-ambassadors.
Once trained participating students are identified as Ambassadors and building “Upstanders” assisting with school climate efforts, defusing student to student conflict and intervening to stop bullying. Trained faculty and students meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues related to climate and culture unique to their building. Annual training and support is provided to the participating students and buildings through the Orange County Youth Bureau.
ATTENTION: Are your scholars or colleagues doing something great? Please contact the district Communications Team at communications@necsd.net. We’d love to visit your class or event and/or post your pictures and recap to highlight the amazing accomplishments throughout our district!
