Jessica Howard: The Chronicle – April 25, 2001
Many students experience bullying at schoot but a few extreme cases have propelled the issue into the headlines in recent years.
Parents may get some insight into dealing with the problem at a workshop called Don’t Bully Me! to be held Tuesday night at Allancroft School in Beaconsfield.
Open to the public, the seminar will be led by George Manoli, a police officer who runs his own hands-on self-defence workshops for women and teens and a program called Street Safe Kids.
Manoll holds both private and public sessions to help bullied children and their parents.
He said that when a child tells parents that they are being bullied, parents may try to advise them on how to deal with it « without knowing if the child is capable of following through. »
In private sessions with children and their parents, Manoll acts as the bully, to see how the child reacts and how their behaviour could be modified to ward off aggression.
« We need to understand why the · child is being victimized, » said Manoli since the coming workshop is directed at parents, he will explain. the principles of bullying, how children and teens typically deal with it and show how parents can encourage children to deal with a bullying situation assertively.
The workshop is the initiative of Joan Beaubien-Rossy who is on the board of Allancroft’s Home and School Association. She attended a· similar workshop in Victoria, B.C., and fourid it very informative.
« Bullying is all about power struggles, so you have to educate students to deal with it in a way· that is assertive, not passive or aggressive, » she said.
Walter Chliszczyk, Allancroft’s principal, said there have not been any serious bullying incidents at the school during his time there.
If a problem does arise, Chriszczyk said the teacher hashes it out with the students, and if it . recurs, the school gets the parents involved.
Since school officials can intervene only if the bullying happens there, he . said the workshop may help parents confront· a situation that arises outside the school environment.
The Don’t. Bully Me! workshop will be held Tuesday, May I, 7;30 to 9 p.m. at Allancroft School, 265 Allancroft Rd., Beaconsfield. Cost $5 of $8 per couple. For more information on Manoli’s programs, call 328-4683.