St. Mary schools join in anti-bullying effort

Students in St. Mary Parish schools joined forces today in support of National Unity Day by wearing the color orange. This is a day dedicated to the anti-bullying campaign.
Over the years in the parish, bully prevention and drug awareness have been combined during Red Ribbon Week.
“We’re actually able to do Unity Day by itself this year,” said Gidget Everitt, coordinator of Red Ribbon Week.
Everitt asked schools all over the district to support the campaign.
“I think Unity Day is really important because it doesn’t get publicized,” Everitt said. “It gets overshadowed by Red Ribbon Week.
“The community members don’t seem to think that we do a lot for anti-bullying and we do. It just falls into that week.”
Red Ribbon Week Committee member Lena Henry has encountered a number of students who have been bullied. There have been some situations in which students contemplated suicide.
“Bullying is really big now, especially in St. Mary Parish,” Henry said.
“It used to be, ‘I push you, you push me, and we let it go.’ Now it’s a form of bullying.”
Henry is a former law enforcement officer for St. Mary Parish.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, “one out of every four students report being bullied during the school year.”
The Centers for Disease Control reported 19.6 percent of U.S. high school students werebullied at school in 2013. Online bullying was reported by 14.8 percent of the students.
High School principals Buffy Fegenbush of Berwick and Mickey Fabre of Morgan City asked students, faculty and staff members to wear orange today in support of the anti-bullying campaign.
Anti-bullying messages were scheduled for morning and mini-announcements during class breaks throughout the day, said Fegenbush in an email.
She also planned to have text reminders sent to parents asking them to discuss bullying issues at home that evening.
Patterson Principal Rachel Sanders is coordinating Unity Day next week with Red Ribbon activities.
The St. Mary Parish school system has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying.
Bullying, in accordance with ACT 861, is defined in the school system’s student code of conduct as:
—Gestures, including but not limited to obscene gestures and making faces.
—Written, electronic, or verbal communications, including but not limited to calling names, threatening harm, taunting, malicious teasing, or spreading untrue rumors.
—Physical acts, including but not limited to hitting, kicking, pushing, tripping, choking, damaging personal property or unauthorized use of personal property.
—Repeatedly and purposefully shunning or excluding from activities.
The student code of conduct says, “St. Mary Parish School System will exhaust all of its authority, ensuring that appropriate action is taken regarding acts of bullying.”
This story was written by Shea Drake. She can be reached at sdrake@daily-review.com.