HSPA / Anti-Bullying Week

This week is HSPA week at school.  If you’re unfamiliar, all the high school Juniors in the state of New Jersey test in the areas of math, reading and writing for three days straight.  If they don’t pass the HSPA tests, they cannot graduate, so while the HSPA’s aren’t difficult, exactly (it’s all the standard stuff they should’ve learned from freshman year until now) there’s a certain level of stress that goes along with taking them.  Students who fail need to re-test in October of their senior year!

HSPA testing requires about 30% of the teaching staff to be utilized as proctors and examiners for the test, so classes for the rest of the student body can't commence as usual.  However, since our district is a bussing district, the remaining students need to be bussed to school at our regular start time, because the busses also work with our elementary and middle schools, and they can’t be driving around willy-nilly all day.

So what does a school do with 1,500 idle students while the other 500 are testing?

For about the first hour of school (7:30-8:30) we have a “study hall” where the kids are divvied up alphabetically and sent to different areas of the school- cafeterias, gymnasiums, etc.  They study, do homework, or chat with friends until they’re ushered into our auditorium for one of the three assemblies planned for this week.

Our school has been recognized on the state and the national level for all the work we’ve done in our anti-bullying efforts.  HSPA week is notorious for it’s anti-bullying theme, and all three assemblies have something to do with bullying awareness in some way.

Our speaker on Tuesday, Sargent Tom Rich, has developed a great program called “Always Connected.” He travels to schools all around the country explaining to the students, in plain English, the ways in which using technology and social media websites can hurt them, and how they can make a positive change in someone else's life by being an up-stander, not a bystander.  His program is informative and entertaining, and offers a fresh take on a topic that typically bores our students to death.

In his program he used a few videos to help him illustrate his points, and I wanted to share them with you.  I found some of them to be so moving.

Lost Generation:

If you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t say it online:

Take a stand, take the pledge: (this one's my favorite!)

On Wednesday we had Mr. Halligan come and tell us Ryan's story.  We were lucky enough to have him present to us last year, and even though I watched his presentation then, I found myself watching again this year.  I got teary-eyed at all the same parts. You can read about Mr. Halligan and his amazing son Ryan here.  You can also watch a clip of Ryan's Story here on PBS.

Today we are supposed to view the documentary Bully, which I've been very much interested in seeing since I first heard about it in 2009. (That is, of course, if we don't have a delayed opening or snow day- they're talking up this storm something fierce!)

Anyway, it's a pretty heavy week at school.  Part of me worries that showing all these depressing, upsetting bullying presentations does more harm than good, but we can't sugar coat everything.  These are real stories of real people, and the kids need to know that their real decisions have real consequences.

I know every teacher loves to brag about how wonderful their school and their students are, but I can truly say I work at a school with an overwhelmingly welcoming, positive, tolerant and accepting student body.  I've witnessed the most random, and intentional acts of kindness from one student to another.  I've witnessed kids stand up for one another, even if they're the only one's standing.  I've even had kids come to me for help when they felt a situation got too big for them to handle.

I'm so proud of my kids, and I hope that schools everywhere are doing what they can to keep their students proactive and positive when it comes to anti-bullying.